RWBY Romance Drabbles
by MahinaFable
Summary: A collection of one-shot romance stories. Entry 7: Vigil. Gods help her, Weiss has fallen for a hero.
1. The Family Way

**Author's Note: Just some shippy little ideas that didn't fit in elsewhere. I'm still working on finishing "Serenade," by the way. I own nothing.**

**The Family Way**

**[/]**

Considering that he had put his sister and sister-in-law through the inconvenience and bother of hosting not only himself, but seven other teenagers, a drunken Huntsman, and one old lady, babysitting little Adrian so Saphron and Terra could have a date night was the least that Jaune could do. While most everyone else had gone about making preparations to move on to Atlas, gathering supplies, Dust and the like, Jaune settled in for an afternoon looking after his precocious little nephew.

As he was helping the toddler build a tower with wooden blocks in the nursery, Jaune was surprised to hear a knock at the door, followed by the appearance of one Weiss Schnee. The white-haired girl looked oddly shy, so Jaune opted to get right to it.

"Hey Weiss. What's up? Is there something you need?"

"Er, yes actually. I… well, I've never had occasion to spend much time with such a young child, and I don't… really know how to care for one. Yang said that the best way to learn is to observe and assist someone else, so…"

Jaune gave her a warm smile. "Of course you can hang out with us. Adrian doesn't mind, does he?"

At that, the little boy clanked a couple of blocks together and made a happy raspberry noise at Weiss's general direction. To the mind of a year old boy, that was the most amazing and hilarious things ever, and he gave great belly laughs and flopping onto his back, stubby legs kicking in the air.

Poor Weiss never stood a chance, falling to her knees next to the baby to coo and play with him. Jaune could almost see the hearts in her eyes. He felt a warm rush spreading from his chest as he watched her be so open and loving, her crystal blue eyes sparkling with unrestrained joy. Jaune knew that, if she ever decided to pursue it, Weiss would make for an amazing mother. As he watched her with his nephew, he took a moment to savor the feeling, and to just feel gratitude that she was alive and well.

[/]

Weiss was having a grand time with little Adrian, slowly sounding out the sounds of letters as she showed them to the boy's wide eyes. Her heart melted as the toddler tried to imitate her, before lapsing back into gurgles, giggles, and monosyllabic phrases like "na!"

Babies were such fun! Why would anyone hire nannies instead of spending their time with them themselves? Look at the little scrunched-up face! Wait, why was his face scrunched up?

A sudden and potent odor offered one particular answer to that. Her eyes watered, and she gasped out a wheeze as she turned to Jaune. "Jaune, he… help!"

"Uh-oh!" Jaune picked up his nephew and confirmed the stink. "Here, I'm going to put him on the changing table. You know about changing diapers?"

Weiss paused. "Um… no, not really." She watched as Jaune quickly took off his armor, gauntlets, and hoodie, revealing a plain black tee-shirt underneath.

"First thing, don't wear anything you can't wash clean. Babies can sometimes… shoot things."

"What?!"

Jaune nodded. "Yep. Seen it. No idea what pressurized liquid poo would do if it got caught in between the plates of my armor, but I can imagine it would be bad. Now, first we get the dirty diaper off of him."

Nothing in Weiss's life experience had prepared her for the absolute nightmare that was the inside of that diaper. Her hands covered her nose and mouth, partially for protection, and also out of shock. Thankfully, Jaune quickly had it bound up in a bag and tossed into a receptacle that was apparently meant for such things.

For his part, Jaune was entirely unphased. "Next, we gotta wipe his bottom. Little buddy needs to be nice and clean!" The last part he said to Adrian, who was busy studying the pattern on the little half-wall lining the table. To Weiss, Jaune said, "Make sure you always wipe front to back, especially with girls." He swiftly cleaned the boy with some diaper wipes, tossing them into the lidded can after the diaper. "Okay, he looks pretty dry, and I don't see any rash, so we can put the new diaper on. See how the tabs fit?"

In a matter of moments, Jaune had taken the stinky, ruinous mess of a dirty diaper and returned Adrian to the clean and happy boy that he had been before the calamity had struck. Weiss was amazed.

"How are you so calm about it?"

"Oh, it's nothing, really. I helped look after my youngest sister after she was born, you know?"

Weiss looked at him. "You're a good man for doing it, anyway."

Jaune waved it off. "I'm really not. Who would let a baby, especially family, sit in their own crap rather than clean it themselves? That's the standard, the bare minimum. You can't really call yourself a man if you won't even change a diaper. Anyway, can you watch him for a minute? I'm gonna go wash my hands."

She nodded her assent, watching him leave the room. "Oh, Adrian," she sighed, picking up the baby and holding him close to her. She knew that Jaune hadn't meant to, but he had pretty much effortlessly annihilated her entire family with his analysis. Try as she might, she couldn't begin to imagine her father bothering to change a diaper, not hers, not anyone's. And as much as it pained her to admit it, her mother was no better in that respect.

Oh, Jacques Schnee was an ass, everyone knew it, but her mother had had no qualms handing her off to nannies, tutors, and keepers, and that was before she had deteriorated. What kind of mother gave up on even attempting to protect her children from Jacques, losing herself to self-pity and the insensate temptations of drink? Didn't she love her? Did poor Whitley even remember her?

Adrian cooed at her, reaching for her face. Weiss opened her eyes to see wet tears dripping onto the baby boy in her arms. "Oh, don't worry baby, everything is fine. You have two mommies who love you dearly, and your uncle Jaune, and more aunties than you'll know what to do with!" She dried the tears from her face with a sleeve, being careful to keep a good grip on Adrian. Weiss held the baby close, as she looked through a window and onto the Argus sunset. "Can I tell you a secret?" She chose to interpret the happy baby noises as proof that she could, in fact, confide in the toddler. " Seeing your uncle Jaune be so family oriented was really attractive to me. He's made of one hundred percent husband material. Don't tell anyone!"

Weiss laughed at her little joke, looking out onto the beautiful streets of Argus. Suddenly, her eyes shot open wide as she felt a pinching and tugging on one of her breasts. Looking down, she saw little Adrian trying to nurse off of her, clearly frustrated by the cloth barrier of her dress.

She may have panicked. A little. How do you pull a baby off of a breast without hurting him? Would he just give up when no milk came out? Oh gods, what if she started lactating?! She'd been feeling maternal that afternoon, but not that damn maternal!

"Jaune! I need your help!"

What if she started lactating and couldn't turn it off? She could practically see Ruby walking up to her with a glass to fill up and dunk her cookies. Yang would be cracking "Weiss-Cream" jokes for the rest of forever!

"What's the-oh, okay," Jaune said as he entered the room and saw Weiss's predicament. "Little guy is hungry, huh?"

"Jaune, _what do I do?"_

"Just hang tight, Saph left some formula in the fridge, I'll just fill a bottle and get back to you. He'll probably give up soon anyway."

"And in the meantime?"

Jaune just shrugged. "Think pasteurized thoughts?"

"_Jaune!_"

That he had the unrestricted temerity to _laugh_ as he walked out of the room and down the stairs galled her even more. Weiss swore that if this little Arc-spawn _did_ cause her to lactate, she was going to dump a cup over Arc's head when he least expected it. To her great relief, though, Jaune had been correct in his assessment, and Adrian soon gave up his endeavor with a little pout. A few moments later, Jaune returned with a carefully warmed bottle of formula.

"Here, let's have you feed him, for real this time. Make sure that his head is well-elevated above his feet, and that his belly isn't scrunched in."

With Jaune's assistance, Weiss bottlefed a baby for the first time. She was surprised to find herself leaning against Jaune as they sat comfortably on a couch. Catching the knight without his armor on was a rare occurrence, and Weiss was surprised by how warm and comfortable a support he was. They had clashed in the past, mostly due to their immaturity, but ever since reuniting at Haven, Weiss had found Jaune to be both steadfast support and agreeable company.

He would one day make for an amazing father, of that Weiss had no doubt. Just as she could never imagine Jacques changing a diaper, so too could she never imagine Jaune slapping a daughter of his out of anger, or disowning her for following her dreams. Weiss could practically see him with a couple of white-haired Arcs on his hips, chasing after them in the snow, raising them to be not just strong and smart, but loving and kind too.

Wait, white-haired Arc babies? Where had _that_ thought come from?

As she leaned deeper into Jaune, she considered that, maybe, there were possibilities to the knight that she hadn't considered before…

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**Years Later**

Saphron smiled as she opened up the files that her little brother and his wife had sent to her. Jaune and Weiss had been happily married for over twelve years, and had had two beautiful children. Their eldest, a tall, lean, white-haired boy named James Schnee, had just begun his initial training as a Huntsman, bearing an elegant, if broad-bladed cut-and-thrust sword, posing proudly with it towards the camera.

Standing beside him, and considerably shorter, was their youngest, a precocious blonde four-year old, Pyrrha. Pyri stood just as proud as her brother, beaming as she wore a saucepan on her head, and carried the lid and a spatula as if they were a sword and shield. Saphron snorted with amusement, remembering that her brother had done the same thing at around that age.

She opened up a video file. It began with Jimmy training in a courtyard under the watchful eye of his aunt Winter, before Pyri stormed onto the scene, wearing her saucepan helmet and swinging her spatula at the older boy with lethal intent. She could make out an amused Weiss in the background, which meant that Jaune had to have filmed this.

"Thwack!" the little girl intoned with deadly seriousness. She continued to thwack her brother, who carefully sheathed his sword and began to dramatically fall to the ground.

"Help me, Auntie Winter! Pyri is just too powerful!"

"Thwack!"

"I'm sorry," Winter deadpanned. "Against some opponents, there can be no defense. Die well, my pupil."

"Remember me as I was!"

On the video, Winter merely raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, then remember me as better than as I was!"

"Thwack!"

With that, the video clip came to an end. Saphron beamed as she added the files to the digital family album she was compiling. It was such a lovely little family her little brother had formed. She couldn't wait for the next reunion.


	2. A Question at Tea

**Author's Note: Thank you for all the kind reviews on the first entry! As a confession: I have a habit of using my own life experiences when writing Weiss, since I can identify as an obnoxiously-intellectual, hopelessly awkward, spoiled, scarred girl. So that part in the last entry when she started panicking over Adrian trying to nurse off of her? Yeah, that happened to me when I was watching a baby at fifteen and didn't know how lactation worked. Yes, I'm aware of just how ridiculous I must have seemed. Well, my humiliation apparently makes for fanfic gold, so hey, some good came of it. **

**Now I just need to make sure that the rest of these entries don't disappoint my readership, so, you know, no pressure. Same deal as always, I own zilch.**

**Entry 2: A Question at Tea**

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It wasn't that Ren and Nora didn't _like_ owning things, so much as it was that, as itinerant orphans, most anything they did happen to own could be lost to them at any moment. While their lives had become more stable since enrolling in a combat academy, the habits of their childhood were hard to break. As a consequence, having escaped Beacon Academy with nothing but the clothes on their backs, their Huntsmen weapons, and the dagger that Ren's father had given to him, had less of an impact than it might have had on other young people their age.

As far as Nora was concerned, as long as Ren was there with her, everything would be okay. Well, not okay-okay, because Pyrrha had died, and Jaune was heartbroken about it and kept trying to commit suicide by enemy, and Ruby was trying to hold it all together with her magical eyeball laser powers, while Yang had been disarmed (it was okay to make that pun, she had checked-and then Yang had "given her a hand" by literally throwing it at her) and Flakey Blakey's Flakey Blakey-ness had reached critical mass and Weiss's dad was a dink, and Ozpin was a cute little boy now, and people could be birds and birds could be people and people could be drunks, which meant that drunks could be birds and people could be wizards, which meant that there could be _drunk bird wizards_ flying around!

The point was, as long as she had Ren by her side, things would eventually be okay. If they knew what was good for them. She had a sodding big hammer, and right now, all of her friends' problems were looking an awful lot like nails.

But! Those problems were for later! For today!

Was!

Renny's!

Birthday!

Which brought Nora back around to the concept of ownership. See, while they had let go of the loss of most of their worldly possessions with a metaphorical shrug, there was _one thing_ that Nora knew that Ren had lost and that she could get that would make her Ren super happy! Ren took his tea very seriously. Like, his hair levels of seriously. And if you ever saw his hair, all smooth and silky like a warm summer night, than you'd know that that was serious business indeed.

Eat your heart out, Yang: her man had the prettiest hair out of anyone.

So pretty. Just like him.

_Anyway_, Ren loved tea, and Nora loved Ren, which is why for his birthday, she got him an authentic Anima tea set! She hadn't known exactly what to get, which is why she had asked the nice old lady at the tea store.

"And your young man is a scholar?" the old lady had asked, clearly amused in her old lady kind of way.

"Well, yeah! Ren is super smart! He can totally be a teacher one day, because he can explain things so well that even _Jaune_ can get it in one go. The world only makes sense when he's around, you know?"

"Is that so? Sounds like quite the extraordinary boy. Is he a gentleman?"

"Only the most gentle man ever! He's always sweet and kind, and he never loses patience with me when I get all zippy, and he's super polite too! He taught me how to be polite. Uh, ma'am. I don't have any parents, but if I did, he was the type of man that I would be proud to bring home and brag about to them. But since I can't, I'll have to brag about him to everyone else instead!"

"Oh, to be young again. How did you meet such a catch?"

"When we were kids, Grimm came and destroyed our village. Well, his village. I don't really know where I'm from. I was hiding all alone, when he found me, and said that we have to be brave. He's always brave, so I have to be brave too, or else he'd be brave all alone, and we can't have that! We'll keep each other safe. Always have! So when he went to become a Huntsman, I went too, and now we keep other people safe from the Grimm too!"

"...Tell you what. This set would normally sell for five thousand lien, but since you're such a darling girl, I'll let it go for fifteen hundred. Oh, and here's a packet of oolong tea leaves to go with it; he'll know what to do with them. Do be sure to bring him by before you leave town, would you?"

Okay, sure thing! Thanks, Nice Tea Lady!

And that is how Nora found the perfect birthday gift for her Ren.

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Ren had been delighted with the gift, in his own understated way, and had immediately invited her to share the first use with him. Ren had always been soothing to her, even when he wasn't using his Semblance, but watching him make tea was one of her favorite things ever. She rarely found herself able to really focus as much as she could when watching him in action, and their tea time was the only time she could find that focus without anyone she loved being in danger. She loved the calm peace that she felt watching him.

Nora may or may not have been completely, hopelessly, and utterly in love with Lie Ren. Best to keep an eye on him to make sure.

Ren had set out a thick tray and carefully measured out a pinch of fire Dust, using it to heat the kettle of water. When he judged the temperature just right, he poured some into a kind of covered bowl, which he called a _gaiwan_. From there, he poured the water from the gaiwan into a decanter, a _chahai. _He then poured the water from the chahai into both cups, carefully dripping some water between them. From there, he smoothly grabbed a pair of tongs, and poured one cup into the other cup, and that cup onto the tray.

With effortless grace, Ren then scooped a precise amount of the dark oolong tea leaves into the gaiwan, before repeating the process of rinsing each part of the tea. Rinsing the leaves not only prepared them for a solid infusion, but it made sure that the chahai and the cups would carry the aroma of the tea in them, to make for a fuller experience.

Upon the next pouring of water, Ren allowed the tea to steep before pouring it into the chahai, making sure that no leaves got into the decanter. From there, he poured the tea into both cups, alternating as the chahai ran low to make sure every drop got into the cups. With his tongs, he lifted a cup into the air, deftly running a cloth underneath it and swiping it dry in one fluid movement, before placing it in front of Nora.

She maintained that sense of calm focus as she sipped her tea, smiling gently at her Ren, who returned her look with one of his own. They repeated the tea process until the leaves ran out of flavor, at which point Ren turned off the boiler.

"Thank you, Nora. It's been too long since we've been able to do this."

Nora sighed happily. "It's as much a gift for me as for you anyway. I like watching you."

Ren hid a grin. "I take it you had help picking out the set?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, this really nice old lady showed me what I needed. Sold it to me at a steep discount, too. Why do you ask?"

"Do you see how the outside of each piece is red? That's for good fortune."

"Well, okay, that's a good thing, right?"

"And do you see how each flower on the pattern is paired with another?"

"...Yes?"

"Nora, this is a wedding set."

Nora's eyes were bigger than the saucers. "I mean, um, I might have sort of gone on and on about how great you are, and how much you mean to me, and how long we've been together, and I might have kind of said that the world only makes sense when you're around and-"

"Nora."

"Ren?"

"It's okay. I know I'm not the best at expressing how I feel, and I know that that has caused you heartache in the past. I may not show emotions the way you do, but that doesn't mean I don't feel them."

He held her gaze.

"I love you too."

Nora melted into a happy puddle of Nora-goo.

"So," he continued, "while you were out getting that, I had Jaune help me pick out this for you." And with that, he held out his hand.

It was a box.

A small box.

A small box with an open hinged lid.

A small box with an open hinged lid and felt lining.

A small box with an open hinged lid and felt lining, in which rested a ring.

A gold band with a single, modest stone in it.

She looked up at Ren, her jaw hanging open. For once, she nothing to say.

"Nora Valkyrie, will you do me the honor of marrying me?"

Oh look, her words were back.

"_ALL OF THE YES!"_

She dove into a flying tackle, knocking her new fiancee to the ground and doing her best to smother him in kisses.

Calm was nice. Chaos was good too.

[/]

Jaune watched from a corner of the inn's common room as Ren and Nora made their way to the table where the rest of their team was dining. Sure enough, after a few seconds, the unmistakable sound of a group of young women discovering that one of their own was betrothed erupted through the room, sounding something between a cheer and a shriek. Nora was mobbed by her friends, as Ren, Qrow, and Oscar quietly slipped from the feminine madness to join Jaune.

"She said yes," Ren helpfully reported.

"As if there was any doubt," Jaune smirked.

"Best man?"

"You know it."

"Congratulations, Ninja Kid," Qrow said. "Man, I'm getting old. The damn kids are getting hitched."

Jaune paused as he saw a certain red-haired reaper send him a sliver-eyed wink from the crowd. "Uh, about that," he said, suddenly nervous. "Should I be concerned that Ruby invited me to tea?"

Qrow's red gaze instantly narrowed on the knight.

"Nope," Ren deadpanned as he headed for the bar.

"Ren, you know something. Ren? Ren!"

Ren ignored him with the same effortless grace with which he brewed tea.

"Ren!"

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Nora bounded into the tea shop, giddy as the day is long. The elderly shopkeeper noticed that the young girl was practically glowing with joy. Or maybe she was actually glowing? It was hard to tell these days, what with the kids and their whacky Semblances. Soon enough, the orange-haired young lady was followed by a young man, relatively tall, muscled in the right places. Oh, to be young again. Forty or fifty years ago, she might have chased this boy around the shop a few times and pinned him to a wall. Oh well.

"Hello again. Is this the young man you were telling me about the other day?"

"Uh-uh! This is Lie Ren! He knew all about the tea, and the set. He also knew it was a wedding set, but that's okay, because guess what? WE'RE GETTING MARRIED! I'm going to be his wife and he's going to be my husband, and we'll travel the world fighting monsters and then we'll have lots and lots of babies!"

Ren shrugged. The young man seemed unphaseable.

"Well," the old lady said. "I'm just glad to see that there are still some young people around who know the old ways of tea. As a wedding present, please allow me to gift you these rare tea leaves. They came from Kuroyuri, before it was destroyed."

That got Ren to pause. "They came from Kuroyuri, before it was destroyed," he echoed. "As did I."

"Then you must take them," the shopkeeper said. "Such a happy young couple, and Hunters to boot."

Ren's eyes widened as he read the inscription on the bag of tea leaves. "Ma'am, these are worth a lot of money, I couldn't-"

"Young man, if my husband were still alive, he'd practically tie them to you and demand you take them. It's a gift. But, if your conscience still feels bad about it, you can repay me be teaching those 'lots and lots of babies' your bride is planning about the old ways of tea."

Ren hesitated, then nodded. "As you say, ma'am. Thank you for this gift."

"No, thank you for giving an old woman with too much tea on her hands hope for the future."

They left soon after that. They didn't, _couldn't, _know what they might face in the future, but Ren and Nora knew that, whatever it was, they would face it as they always had.

Together.

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**Entry Endnote: Writing from Nora's perspective is both exhilarating and terrifying. I've never had to try and wrench control of the story back from a character before. Just… wow. At any rate, I hope I didn't mangle the Chinese tea ceremony too badly. I just wanted to find some way to illustrate how Ren can affect Nora, and going from her ADHD stream of consciousness to hyper focus seemed like a good way to do that.**

**Renora is the most canon thing to have ever happened. Oh, and my tablet autocorrect adds "and Nora" after typing in "Ren," which, metawise, is the most disgustingly romantic thing ever. **


	3. I'll End Him Later

**Author's Note: Yay, more lovely reviews on my last entry! For the record, the hyper-Nora section wasn't planned. At all. I didn't plan out the paragraph long run-on sentence that culminated in drunken bird wizards, it just kind of happened. I wasn't fully in control again until I had to focus on the steps of Gongfu Cha Gaiwan tea brewing. I don't know what that says about my mental state that a fictional character hijacked my story, but man, that was a trip. **

**Anyways, here's some Blacksun. Who has two thumbs and owns nothing? This gal!**

**Entry 3: I'll End Him Later**

**[/]**

Irrespective of what his wife might say, Ghira Belladonna didn't sulk. He _contemplated_. Aggressively. With a scowl directed towards the idiot boy that his Blake, his princess, his only child, his beloved daughter, had brought home.

Just… why?

If one held a gun to his family's heads-and for some reason, Ghira hadn't crushed said hostage taker with primal fury and great vengeance-the Chieftain would eventually admit that the boy wasn't necessarily a malicious or bad person. Not like that Adam Taurus. If his path should ever cross with that masked pile of rancid feces that dared called itself a Faunus, Taurus would learn what real White Fang violence was.

But admitting that Wukong wasn't as bad as Taurus was like conceding that a mangy, flea-ridden cur wasn't as bad as a rabid animal snapping and threatening everyone in sight; it was a true statement, but neither had any business being near his daughter. It didn't help that, instead of helping him in driving off the interloper, Kali actively _encouraged _the two, calling it "cute," and suggesting that a pairing of a quieter, serious, moody one with a friendly, silly one had some precedent in their family.

Ghira had no idea what she was talking about. He could be plenty friendly, just not to teenage boys who clearly didn't understand how shirts work, and worse, clearly influenced such… _choices_ in his daughter's attire.

What? Hypocrisy? Again, Ghira had no idea what Kali was on about. His own attire displayed the staggering strength of the Faunus people to neighboring kingdoms, putting his imposing physique to work for the good of all of Menagerie. That boy's attire inspired his daughter to sneak glances at him when she thought no one could see her. There was a clear difference.

She was showing them pictures on their scroll now, including one of another team that her daughter's friends were close to. See, that one short-haired blonde girl had the good sense to wear a hooded sweatshirt and plate armor. Why couldn't she take her fashion cues from her?

He was now being informed that that was, allegedly, a boy.

Really? Two of them were boys? Are you sure?

Huh. It looked like human parents weren't feeding their boys enough protein these days.

Oh no, and now there's talk of orphans. Well, now he felt bad. Oh, and now Wukong was talking about growing up homeless and alone in the streets of Vacuo.

Well. He suppose he couldn't fault the vagrant rapscallion for not having proper manners and deference to Blake if he had no one to show him how to comport himself as a proper young Faunus man.

Mind you, he was still going to smash the boy into paste if he kept on talking about his daughter's alleged "moves," but he could forestall his righteous judgement for a little while longer.

[/]

Well, the boy had gone and got himself stabbed chasing Blake, and now his daughter was crying over Wukong's unconscious body in Ghira's own study. He hated hearing Blake cry. In retrospect, at least the idiot recognized that Blake was to be protected at all costs, but he still shouldn't do so in a way that made his daughter upset.

How was he going to crush him like a bug if he went out and got himself killed first? And now it seemed as if his antics had bought himself another reprieve from his paternal fury, as he couldn't very well make Blake cry even worse by finishing off Wukong himself.

At least, not until he was up and on his feet again. Then he would pay.

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"I'd do it all again if it meant protecting you."

Again, the idiot at least had his priorities straight. If there was one thing that he could agree with Wukong about, it was that it would be far better for him to throw himself into harm's way over exposing Blake to it. He supposed that he could learn to accept some degree of proximity of the boy to his daughter due to his perfect expendability as a meat shield.

Still, if he didn't learn the role of proper boundaries, he wouldn't hesitate to stomp Wukong flat himself. His execution had merely been delayed.

Wait, what did she mean, "her hero?"

Damn it, Kali. And Blake had her kitty smile on too, the one that she only gets when she's really, truly happy.

And it was that idiot that put it on her face. Damn it. He'd wait until this… whatever it was ran its course, and then he'd personally eject Wukong from Menagerie via trebuchet.

[/]

Okay, so Wukong had supported Blake against _Taurus_, raising her flagging morale against his psychological attacks and physically interposing himself between her and Taurus's sword. It was a sign of Ghira's near saintly patience and mercy that he tolerated Sun's continued presence around his daughter, and didn't commit swift and savage murder for putting his _tail_ around her _waist_. Hopefully, her reunion with the rest of her team would mean that Sun's usefulness to her had come to an end, and she would soon rid herself of the boy.

[/]

Well, it looks like his daughter and Wukong had finally gone their separate ways. Too bad, so sad, hopefully he'll fall off a cliff and-

She kissed him! What?! Why?!

What did she mean by "counting the days until she can get her hands on him again?!"

It was official. Blake was trying to commit patricide by giving her poor old father, who had never been anything but loving and supportive, a heart attack with these letters.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder," his left foot. Stop egging them on, Kali. It would give them the wrong impression that Wukong wasn't a dead man for touching his daughter.

No, Kali. The only sense that he missed Wukong was in the way that the axe he threw at him didn't hit the mark.

On the upside, it seems that Adam Taurus was a literal dead man now. Evil bastard would never threaten his darling princess ever again.

That still doesn't mean he approved of Sun!

[/]

What did she mean "she was marrying him?!"

It was bad enough that he had dragged her back from who-knows-where, underfed and exhausted, from fighting someone calling themselves "The Queen of the Grimm." Now he thinks that he's good enough to ask his daughter, his kitty princess, his baby Blake, for her hand in marriage?! Who did he think he was?!

She asked him?!

What.

Just.

Hang on.

Nope. Doesn't compute. Time to die, Wukong, you've escaped your execution long enough.

"Sure thing, Mr. B!"

Damn it, boy, he's threatening your life, don't just grin and give him the thumb's-up!

No, Kali, it is not "just bluster." As a father, Ghira has the inalienable right to exact bloody-handed murder against any would-be suitor of Blake's who doesn't measure up.

None of them measure up, boy, that's the point! Now you listen-

She's up.

She's… purring. Purring into the neck of Wukong.

Blake hasn't purred since she was nine years old.

…

… Okay, you've escaped death this time, Wukong. For her sake.

[/]

For crying out loud, boy, fix your tie. Blake may be marrying a moron, but that doesn't mean the world has to know from just a glance.

"Sure thing, Mr. B! Or should I say 'Dad?'"

They'll never find your body, Wukong.

[/]

"Come on, Sun. Pull the knot harder. _Bind me up good and tight."_

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Pull my hair! Oh, _Sun!"_

Oh no. Ghira _did not_ just hear that.

Only the immediate intercession of his wife kept Ghira from bursting into the guest room and dismantling Wukong in alphabetical order.

Yes, he knows that they're married now, but that still doesn't mean he can touch his baby girl like that!

She'll always be his precious baby girl.

Well, yes, he and Kali had got up to some… escapades after their wedding, but that was different!

And that was different too! Kali's father had been entirely unreasonable in his dislike of Ghira, whereas Ghira was a bastion of reasoned logic in the sort of mad world that made a marriage between Blake and Wukong even a remote possibility.

Grandkids?

Well… he supposed it wouldn't be so bad to have some little babies running around. But could they at least keep it down when they visit Menagerie?!

[/]

"We're trying to get pregnant!"

Yeah. All over the guest room.

Blake, sweetheart, have you considered the potential benefits of parthenogenesis? Perhaps we could arrange for an immaculate conception?

"Oh Dad, I'm hardly immaculate."

Gzrgkh.

"He's choking! Don't worry, Mr. B, I'll save you!"

Stop hitting him, you idiot. And don't touch his daughter.

"But then how is she supposed to get pregnant?"

"Never mind Ghira, Sun, he's just being dramatic."

Hardly. Men like Ghira don't get dramatic, they get _prophetic._

"Anyways, here's this list of potential fertility treatments you may wish to look into. I know it took your father and I a lot of tries before we had you. Do remember to have fun now!"

Did she just _wink?!_

"Sure thing, Mom!"

It's official. His whole family is conspiring to drive Ghira into an early grave.

"Don't worry, Mr. B, I'm gonna be the best dad ever!"

Damn it, boy, now he has to kill you.

"Daddy! Be nice!"

...Fine. You may continue to draw breath, Wukong. Be grateful to Blake that you're allowed to persist in this world.

"But Blake is my world."

Damn it, boy.

[/]

His grandchildren were Ghira's pride and joy.

Sure, Ghira may have been getting on in years-he now cinched his tunic closed a bit higher than before, and the fur on his chest was more gray than black-but he was still a powerfully built man, which is why the little black-haired monkey Faunus's favorite playset was Grandpa.

The girl giggled as her grandfather raised his massive arm, the child hanging from his bicep with a powerful prehensile tail. She shrieked in delight before swinging towards him, giving him a quick, but strong hug as she scampered around to sit on his shoulders.

Across the room, Blake held her younger child, a newborn son, his golden cat ears peeking out through the blanket. Kali had a full-blown kitty smile as she shook a rattle for him, squealing with delight as his little hands grasped onto one of her fingers.

In the meantime, a slightly haggard but still-grinning Sun clapped his hand on Ghira's shoulder.

"Fatherhood. What a trip. Am I right, Mr. B?"

Sure thing, boy.

"Daddy!" Ghira's granddaughter jumped from his shoulders into Sun's arms.

Time to go meet his grandson. Good work there, boy.

"What's this? Not going to threaten my life today?"

No grandchild of his is going to grow up without a father. He'll get around to destroying him. One of these days. Have you thought about schools yet?

"I knew you'd warm up to me, Mr. B!"

Shut up, boy.

"You got it!"

[/]

**Entry Endnotes: This format was a little more experimental, so they won't all be like this. Hopefully, it'll be a success.**

**The whole thing with the Sun and the Belladonna family reminded me of my parents and my grandpa: a gorgeous brunette escapes an evil, abusive ex, returning to her tropical island home with a blonde boy with more abs than sense, and introduces him to her sulking, hulking father. It was a running joke, even long after my older brother and I were born, that my grandfather would occasionally ask my dad to remind him to destroy him sometime.**

**Miss you, grandpa.**

**Oh, and while this hasn't been a problem yet, please no ship-fighting in the reviews. These drabbles aren't an endorsement of any one ship over another, yadda-yadda-yadda. Thus far, I have ideas for a Lancaster, a Bumbleby, an Arkos, a genderbent Arkos, and a Nuts-and-dolts, plus some potential others, not necessarily in that order. And I might do another White Knight for CelestiasPaladin, just for being a good sport about it.**


	4. High Caliber Love

**Author's Note: Incoming Lancaster! You have been warned.**

**Entry 4: High Caliber Love**

**[/]**

"Heya, sis, whatcha working on?"

Finding Ruby hard at work in a weapons forge was nothing unusual for Yang. What _was_ unusual was seeing her little sister give a quick jump, a yelp, and then try to hide her apparent project behind her.

"Oh, Yang! Just, uh, you know, tinkering. With stuff. And things." Ruby's eyes darted back and forth, yet somehow never managed to return Yang's gaze. Yang was fairly certain that she had the most adorable little sister in the whole world. Given the significance of her silver eyes, the world also apparently agreed with her that she had the most _important_ little sister in the whole world. But Yang's little sister was also the worst liar in the whole world.

Plus, Ruby was still short.

"Rubes, I can see it behind you. Hey, why is it white and yellow?"

"Dang it!" Ruby gave up the charade with a little wince. "Jaune still doesn't have a gun, so… I kinda made him one. It's no big deal," she added quickly as Yang reached over her and picked up the weapon.

It looked like some kind of short, double-barreled shotgun, bearing twin smooth-bore barrels of a rather disconcerting size. There was no stock, but it had an elegantly curved pistol grip, and space for what would be a rather large Dust magazine. She had engraved a design along the barrels, the twin Arcs of Jaune's sigil, only made of vines with roses blooming from them. "It's just something to give him a bit of range, a little more versatility," Ruby was explaining. "I was going to make him a revolver, since, you know, he prefers weapons that are simple and reliable" Like himself. "Kind of a starter weapon."

"Hmm," Yang peered at the weapon. "Starter weapon. Just a loaner until he gets something better, huh? I guess he'll just have to make do with high-grade Mistrali Bronze, compressed enameled white steel, and a polished ivory hand grip. Jeez, Rubes, did you measure this to his hand or something?"

Not… exactly. Ruby could recall, with exact detail, the feeling of his hand on her shoulder as he reassured her in the ruins of Kuroyuri. How it looked on his glass as they toasted each other at the school dance, taking solace in their shared social awkwardness. His hand reaching down to her on their first day at Beacon, offering her friendship when she had never felt more alone. So she made the grip to fit his hand perfectly, from memory.

And if she maybe wanted to know what those hands felt like on her waist, between her shoulder blades, running through her hair, or… on other places, well, that was her own business.

"Remnant to Ruby, come in Ruby!"

Oh right, Yang was still there.

"Wow, you were practically glowing for a minute there." Her big sister's eyes narrowed as she peered at Ruby. "Oh my gosh, you're crushing on Vomit Boy!" Yang snatched her sister up in a big hug, ignoring, as she always did, the smaller girl's sudden frantic waving.

"Ooh, you're just so _cute! _I never thought I'd see the day! And you would go for the dork in shining armor. Just like a storybook! How long has this been going on? Dad's going to murder him when he finds out you ran off with a boy." Yang gasped as a thought occurred to her. "Was Team RNJR just one big love party between you and Jaune and Ren and Nora? Pretty sneaky, sis! I'm both proud and appalled."

"Shut up, Yang!" Ruby didn't quite escape her sister's clutches, but she did manage to loosen the grip enough to speak. "He doesn't know. I've been waiting until he's… okay, you know?" Yang let go as Ruby turned to the table, running her hands over the gun she'd made. "And I… I don't know, part of me feels guilty. Like I'm stealing him from Pyrrha, or disrespecting her memory. Or something, I don't know."

Yang embraced her again, but this time, it was softer, more tender. "Ruby… It's been a year and a half now. Pyrrha's gone. And you're still here. You remember what Vom… what Jaune told us about it? She put him in a locker and sent him away. She wanted him to live, Ruby. Not just survive, but really _live._ She would have wanted him to live a long, full life, with adventure, friendship… and love. And do you know what I think?"

Ruby looked up at Yang, whose heart ached a little from the moisture she saw in her eyes. "_I _think that if P-money had to choose anyone to be crushing on Jaune, it would be you. Who was the first person to give him any sort of friendship, even before she met him? Who else believed in him, right from the beginning? Who else saw things in him before anyone else could, even Jaune-y boy himself? It was you, Ruby."

Ruby felt herself relax a little at that. Yang was right, like she usually was. It wasn't like this was coming out of nowhere, she and Jaune really did have a history.

"Besides," Yang said, a little mischievous glint in her eye. "Could you imagine how she'd react if, say, _Weiss_ changed her mind, and started putting the moves on our resident Ladykiller? Pyrrha would freaking come back as a ghost and start haunting her out of spite."

The silver-eyed girl did not care for that thought, not one bit, and Yang, having noticed that reaction, opted to run with it. It wouldn't do for Ruby to repeat Pyrrha's mistake and wait to say anything until it was too late, after all. Maybe lighting a fire under Ruby's butt would get it in gear.

"Of course," Yang began slowly, as if thinking it over. "Those two _have_ been getting along better since we met up with you at Haven. He saved her life, all white knight, and she acts like a proper little lady… a kind word here, a soft look there…"

"That's illegal!" Ruby blurted, causing Yang to burst out laughing. "Well, not illegal, exactly, but… she can't?"

"Oh? And why not? Have you told him how you feel? Have you told her how you feel?"

Ruby's pout was all the answer that Yang needed. "They're not mind readers, Rubes. You gotta let them know these things, or someone's feelings could get hurt. Speaking of which… does he feel the same way towards you?"

That stopped Ruby cold. Of all of the ways that she had imagined screwing up her first attempt at romance, the idea that Jaune might not return her feelings literally had never occurred to her. So naturally, she did what Ruby was wont to do, and began to flail around in a panic, zipping about and trying to gather up the gun, the magazines, and the case that she made.

"Ohmygosh, I'msostupidhowcouldhelikeme, _my knees are in no way normal_, Iscrewedup, I screweverythingup-"

It was through the ease of long practice that Yang calmly reached out and plucked Ruby out of the air like a hyperactive hummingbird, holding her up to look her in the eyes. "Ruby. Stop. Breathe. It's going to be okay."

She held her sister's gaze until the younger girl had calmed down. Yang set her down. "Maybe he'll return your feelings and maybe he won't. Maybe he will, but won't be ready to act on them. Who knows? Heck, _he_ might not know, and he could need time to think about it. But if you never put yourself out there, if you give up without even trying, _you'll _never know. And you're too brave to have it go down like that."

Mind you, that kind of courage was of a different sort than the nigh-insane antics that Ruby usually got up to, but Yang didn't mind too much. Ruby had grown up _so much_, and Yang was so proud of her that sometimes she thought she might just burst. But… all of the magic, and Maidens, and gods, and destiny?

Yang considered herself to be a pretty good big sister. There was that one time she fell into a depression after losing an arm and being abandoned by the girl she loved, but no one was perfect. Ruby not only didn't hold that against her, she had turned it into an opportunity to grow even more than she might have otherwise. Beyond that, Yang had always been there for Ruby… but her mystical Big Sister Powers couldn't prepare her to help with this entire aspect of Ruby's life, her essence, her capital-D Destiny that was so far beyond Yang's comprehension.

So in a way, this little dilemma of Ruby's meant that Yang could still play a part in helping her amazing little sister grow as a person. Staring down Grimmzilla to pull magical blasts out of her eyes? Kinda beyond Yang's pay grade. (Speaking of which, was Ozpin ever gonna, you know, pay them somehow? Destiny is great and all, but a girl's gotta make a living…)

Teaching her little Rubaby how to deal with her first crush?

Yang's got this.

"So here's the deal," she said, holding Ruby lightly by the shoulders. "Making this boomstick for Jaune is a great icebreaker. Give it to him, let him know how much he means to you, and see where it goes from there. If he says yes, than I'll be your biggest cheerleader. If he says no, we'll have a girl's night, eat ice cream and gripe about how boys are stupid and we should eat them, and we'll be recovered in a few days. No matter what, I've got your back."

Ruby took a deep breath and then nodded. "Okay. Okay, I can do this."

Yang suddenly grinned. "In the meantime," she said, "I wanna take this to the range and see how she fires. Yoink!" she snatched up the gun.

"No, wait!"

Yang was taken aback as Ruby literally dove for the weapon, snatching it back from her sister.

"Ruby, what gives?!"

"It's not a shotgun. You need to be careful with it, because… well, it's not a shotgun."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "It looks pretty shotgunny to me."

"For your information," Ruby snapped, sounding almost as prissy as Weiss for a second, "This is a prototype miniaturized magnetizing plasmid Hard Light Dust Projector."

Yang blinked, her expression perfectly blank.

"Well, Jaune sometimes isn't the best at things," Ruby began. "So I thought, what if I made him a gun that was really, really hard to miss with? So I thought about putting a computer targeting assistance sight on a revolver, but the parts are delicate and need frequent calibration, which would annoy Jaune, and I don't want him to be annoyed with something I make for him. Then I thought about a sawed-off shotgun, but the spread wasn't coneing out the way I wanted it to. Then I thought, 'well, what if we made it so it was a single blast instead of multiple projectiles?' I was going to make it a flamethrower like Doctor Oobleck's thermos, but then we went to that one lab in Atlas, and I… kinda, sorta, maybe stole some stuff. A little."

Truth be told, she had thought "how would Jaune solve this problem?" and then immediately hit upon a bold and outrageously illegal solution, just like Jaune would. That no one had tried to stop them as they left Atlas just meant that she was good at it, or, more likely, that General Ironwood had recognized the futility of trying to keep Ruby Rose away from weapons technology and just handwaved it.

It was that latter, but Ruby didn't know that.

"So," Yang began slowly. "You stole prototype weapons technology from the most powerful military on Remnant."

"Yup."

"To make an apparently extremely powerful weapon."

"Uh-huh!"

"To give to a boy to let him know you have a crush on him."

"Gotta give it my all, you know?"

Yang just pinched the bridge of her nose as she took a deep breath. "Oh, Ruby… I do love you."

"Love you too, sis!"

"Well, let's go test it out, at least. Want to at least see it in action before Atlas has us all killed."

"That's the spirit!"

Ruby cheerfully led the way to a closed-off firing range. Yang paused as she saw the decimated state of the reinforced steel wall behind the targets. "I had to do some fiddling with the barrier projectors because they kept shattering," Ruby explained.

"Ruby…"

"No time for questions, only awesome! Now, the target is that cluster over there."

"Cluster?"

Ruby pulled the weapon up and cheerfully announced "Both barrels!" before pulling the trigger.

It was, technically speaking, a burst, in the sense that a tsunami is still a wave. After an audible whine, the Dust erupted with a deep buzzing sound. To Yang, it was as if someone had taken a pair of columns, each one growing from a stream emerging from each barrel to a full five feet in diameter, turned them into white-hot molten Dust death, and thrown them downrange. The barrier projectors flickered under the onslaught, only barely holding together. The cluster of reinforced steel and ceramic Huntsman drones that Ruby had aimed for were simply _gone_, well and truly vaporized.

The lilac irises of Yang's eyes seemed very small, so wide was her stare. Wordlessly, she turned to stare at her sister.

"It works!"

"...what."

"I said, 'it works!'"

"You made _that_ to give to Jaune?!"

Ruby looked down at her newest creation. "Well… it might be a little more than a crush," she admitted.

"Not the point, Ruby! How is he supposed to fire that thing without killing one of us?!"

"That's why it's a _secondary _weapon! It gives him _options! _Besides, if you're behind him when he shoots it, it's perfectly safe."

There was an audible clang as Yang facepalmed with her metal hand. This was the most _Ruby_ thing that had ever happened. "Just… what are you hoping will happen when he uses it?"

"Well," Ruby blushed a little. "I'm hoping that he'll blast Cinder into little bits and think 'Wow, I sure am glad that Ruby made this for me! She's so awesome and cool. I should totally love her for the rest of forever!' Besides, think of how great it'll look hanging from his side, on one of those belts that he has slung low across those hot little hips of his..."

"Ew, Ruby, I don't need to hear you perving out like that!"

"Oh, what happened to 'Just break out of your shell a little, Ruby?' or 'let's go purr at boys in the auditorium, Ruby?' Can't get mad at me for finally buying what you're selling. Now, you onboard, or what?"

Yang looked up from her hand and stared at her little sister again. "I… just teach him how not to kill us with it, okay?"

"That's fine. He's super tactical and smart, when he's not being a dummy."

"... I tentatively sign off on this idea."

"Woo!"

[/]

In retrospect, Yang's Big Sister Powers really dropped the ball on picking up on the growing relationship between Ruby and her dorky crush. The group was sitting around a campfire next to the road to Vacuo, the next leg of their grand adventure around the world. They had been eating dinner and discussing their plans for reaching Shade, and all the while, Ruby had been stealing glances at Jaune… and unless her imagination had been playing tricks on her, Jaune had been stealing some right back.

Apparently, she wasn't the only one who noticed too, as Weiss helpfully suggested the two have their own discussion about "tactics," and "team cohesion." Alone. The other assorted teens agreed with Weiss, with Nora adding "We work better when you two are close!"

Ren nudged her.

"Working closely! Yep! That's what I meant!"

They all scattered to their own tents after that, though Yang opted to hide behind a tree to watch over her sister. The two of them were seated on a stump in front of a campfire, with relative privacy, and a gorgeous panorama of the multitudes of stars arrayed across the clear night sky. Perfect scenery. Yang gave little mental cheer as Ruby used a map as a pretext to scoot closer to her target, practically leaning against him. Jaune didn't seem to tense at all, his body language indicating that this was a pretty common occurrence for the two of them.

"You know, I'm kind of surprised you're not over there, beating Blondie into a pulp."

Yang behind her to see her uncle peering at the scene.

"What, are you nuts? I've got her six on this. Besides, Vomit Boy is alright. A little noodley, but after everything she's already done for Remnant, and everything she's going to do, if Ruby wants the noodle, she gets the noodle."

Qrow made a face. "Uh-"

"Yeah, yeah, I realized as soon as I said it. Now shut up, and don't ruin this for her, or I'll have you plucked and deep fried."

"I'm pretty sure that's a hate crime."

"Shh." Yang shushed her uncle. "C'mon, Rubes," she muttered. "A Huntress always catches her prey."

[/]

For once, Ruby was able to set aside her anxiety and just enjoy the feeling of being with Jaune. She leaned against his shoulder with an easy familiarity, resting against his unarmored right arm and idly noting how lean and strong he was. And for someone who had been hiking all day, in armor, and carrying a pack to boot, he still somehow smelled nice, with a scent of vanilla to him. Whenever she asked him how he did it, he would just wink at her and say it was "an Arc family secret." It became a running gag between the two of them, and if her heart beat a little faster every time he winked her way, well, no one needed to know.

Suddenly, a small flash in the sky caught the pair's attention. Looking up, their map forgotten, the two watched as a brief meteor shower streaked through the night sky. Ruby had never seen anything like it, and gazed in wonder, looking on as the lights streaked through the sky.

"Wow," she breathed, once it had passed.

"You know, we've seen a lot of amazing things so far. But the most amazing thing I've seen out here is you."

Ruby almost jumped as she saw that Jaune was softly looking at her. Also, as she had been watching the meteor shower, it was entirely within the realm of possibility that she had lifted his arm around her shoulders and had snuggled against his chest as if she belonged there. And what he said! She could feel her cheeks burning, but she would be lying if she said that it didn't come with a warm, bubbly feeling spreading throughout her body.

"Uh, hi," she blurted.

"Hey there," he said fondly.

They gazed at each other, neither knowing quite what to say, and neither wanting to be the one to bring the moment to an end.

[/]

"They're doing it again," Qrow muttered.

Yang raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "Doing what again?"

"That damn thing they do where they just stare at each other for a while, being all emotive. Seen it a lot when they were on the road to Mistral, and again at Argus, and there was that one time at Atlas when I thought I was gonna have to murder that kid…"

"Wow, okay, so this _has_ been going on for a while." Yang sighed. She really should have noticed sooner.

As if reading her mind, Qrow spoke up. "You kinda had a lot on your plate, Firecracker. Your arm, your girl, that shit with Raven. Sometimes things just don't show up on the radar. Hey, twenty lien says Shortstack screws this up."

Yang smirked. "That is inappropriate and mean. Make it forty."

[/]

When they did break the silence, they did so in unison, causing a moment of confusion as neither could make out what the other had said.

"I want to confess something to you," he had said.

"I have something I've been meaning to give you," she had said.

"What?" they had both said together.

Ruby gave a little snort of amusement. "You go first," she said, sitting up to look at him more squarely..

Jaune took a deep breath to steady himself. He looked up at the stars, collecting his thoughts. "It's been absolutely crazy out here," he began. "We've done things I never thought we could do, seen things I never imagined we would see, and through it all, you've been our guiding star. Out of all the amazing things I've ever seen, you top them all."

"Well, that's just my eyes," Ruby demurred, but Jaune shook his head sharply.

"No, Ruby. They're a neat trick, but even if your eyes were a different color, or if you had goggles like Maria, it's _you_, the strength of your character, who you are, that's got us through these situations. None of us would have been able to carry on if not for you, and most of us wouldn't have been out here in the first place."

He looked to her, and Ruby held his gaze, not trusting herself to speak.

"I once said that you gave us the courage to follow you. Now, out here, after everything we've done, after everything we've learned… you give us hope that things might turn out okay after all. You've changed the world, Ruby, and through it all, you're still the same sweet, silly, wonderful girl I met at Beacon. I… I don't want to have any regrets, Ruby. Not like Pyrrha. I won't leave things unsaid until it's too late. I've fallen for you, hard. I love you."

Ruby's eyes were wide. This was everything she had wanted, more than she could have dreamed of! Her knight in shining armor had just confessed that he was straight-up in _love_ with her! Her! All right, Ruby, time to knock his socks off!

"Words!" she blurted. "Uh, I mean, they're like, I mean, _you're_ like, um, a big rock that's all stubborn and I can stand on. But it's like a happy rock!"

She looked at the baffled expression on Jaune's face and started to panic. "Oh gods, I'm screwing this up! I just… you're just!" Her arms started to flail. How could this be happening?! What happened to all of that swagger when she had been talking with Yang? _Where did all of her swag go?!_

"Shut up and kiss him already!" She heard Yang's voice call out from behind a nearby tree.

Good idea, Yang!

She threw herself into Jaune's arms, from a sitting position no less, straddling his lap and pulling his face down into a deep, passionate kiss. His arms felt strong around her, and she felt intoxicated from the feel of his lips on her. It felt good. It felt _right_ and natural, and Ruby decided that she was going to grab him up and do this a lot more often in the future.

Eventually, the need for air forced them to part. Ruby's smile was nothing short of beatific as she squeaked happily at Jaune.

"Works for me," he said with a laugh.

Ruby broke down into giggles, resting her cheek against his armored chest. A thought occurred to her. "Thanks, Yang!"

"No problem, sis! You got this!"

[/]

Qrow scowled at his eldest niece. "No fair interfering. Pay up, Firecracker."

"Sure thing, whatever, she just needed a helping hand," Yang grumbled as she fished out the lien.

"Right. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go pry Ruby off of that boy."

Yang held out an arm, her real one, blocking his way. "You can't just, you know, let them be?"

"She's sitting in his lap, for crying out loud!"

Yang glared at him. "And she's perfectly happy there. And how come you weren't like this when I hooked up with Blake?"

"Because your kitty cat girlfriend can't get you pregnant!"

"As far as _you_ know," Yang said with a wink, stopping Qrow cold.

"The hell does _that_ mean?!"

Yang ignored him, and started to head for the tent she shared with Blake. She was feeling _pretty_ good about herself just then. Best wingwoman, ever.

"Yang? What did you mean by that? Damn it, Yang!"

Qrow turned back to the campfire, only to see Ruby shoving the boy into her own tent. "Thanks for taking first watch, Uncle Qrow!" she called out cheerfully, before disappearing inside.

The Huntsman looked around, not quite comprehending what had just happened. Finally, he gave up, sitting down for first watch. "Tai is gonna kill me," he muttered.

[/]

"Okay, so I made it so that it will slot onto the underside of the shield, so you can carry it with the left and keep it ready to fire."

The following morning, Ruby had shown Jaune the weapon that she had made for him. She had had a _real_ good night last night, snuggling against Jaune and holding him close to her as she slept. He was like the best teddy bear ever. Of course, Qrow had been waiting up for them, and had made all manner of increasingly over-the-top death threats towards Jaune until Ruby finally figured out what it was that her uncle had been worried about.

She had gone scarlet as she explained that she wasn't ready for, you know, _that._ But even if she had, who was Qrow to threaten Jaune about it? For all he knew, all of those barmaids and one-night stands he bragged about had uncles just like Qrow, who all wanted to murder him, too. At least Jaune would be there in the morning.

That shut him up.

So, while he was off pouting, Ruby had taken the opportunity to show her new boyfriend the weapon she had made! Ruby wasn't like other people. She had come to accept that. Most people wouldn't get as excited as she did watching her boyfriend carry a weapon that she had made especially for him, or at least, not excited in the same way, the way that had her heart racing, that had her biting her lower lip as she fitted the scabbard onto his belt.

She wasn't like other people, but that was okay. She liked who she was. And apparently, Jaune was quite the fan, too.

As she glanced to one side, she saw her sister give her a big grin and a thumb's-up. She took confidence from that, and moved close on Jaune, wrapping her arms around him and placing her hands around his.

"Okay," she said softly. "Hold on tight, now."

She blew into his ear, causing his finger to tighten on the trigger. The burst tore through the clearing, vaporizing the Deathstalker that Blake had reported on a scouting run. With a single shot, the massive Grimm simply ceased to be, decohering in the face of the searing Dust.

Ruby basked in the adulation that Jaune heaped upon her. It was a dangerous weapon that she gave him, sure, but she knew he would always be careful to keep his friends out of harm's way. And if seeing Jaune carry the weapon made her all tingly, seeing him actually use it had her practically euphoric.

There would be struggles and hard fights to come, she knew, but Ruby could honestly say that she hadn't been this happy, truly happy, for a long, long time. She had her friends, her uncle, her super awesome big sis, her lovey squishy knight in shining armor, and high powered implements of mass destruction.

What more could a girl ask for?

**[/]**

**Entry Endnotes: Sorry for the absence. It's been storming non-stop where I live for the last few days, and power is spotty.**

**As to the gun Ruby made: You ever see Gundam Wing? The main character's giant mech in that show has a beam rifle that acts like the weapon I described. To those who haven't seen it: it's a kamehame-hadouken in a can. Outrageous, over the top, and so very Ruby Rose.**

**I am completely amused that, in RWBY, the team paladin, the knight with the healing hands, is also the one to immediately hit on illegal solutions to their problems. Forgery, piracy… look out, Roman, there's a new Gentleman Thief on the scene. Also, he and Ruby do kind of stare at each other, a lot. **

**I think Yang is in an interesting situation where she had always been half-mom and half-sister to Ruby, and their relationship is changing now that Ruby is not only growing up, but leading them on this grand adventure. Undeniably proud of her, but also a little wistful that she's outgrowing the singular need that she had for Yang at the beginning of the show. **

**Whelp, that's a wrap on this drabble. See you all next time! **


	5. In The Garden of Dreams

**Author's Note: Heads-up, this contains some more risque moments than my previous entries. Let's bumble them bees, baby.**

**Entry 5: In The Garden of Dreams**

**[/]**

Yang was worried about her partner. Again. It seemed to be a thing with the cat Faunus, a thing that Yang was beginning to realize was just part and parcel of Blake's life, like Ruby's dorky optimism, or Weiss's prissiness, or her own concentrated, unadulterated awesomeness. So with that in mind, Yang resolved to figure out why, exactly, it was that Blake hadn't left Atlas Academy dormitory in the three days since they'd arrived at the floating city. Where the others had taken the opportunity to take in the sights and replenish their supplies, Blake had contented herself with reading in Team RWBY's borrowed quarters and exercising in the academy gym.

Unlike previous outbreaks of Blakey behavior, the girl didn't seem to be upset or withdrawn, she appeared to be sleeping well, and was generally in good spirits, so why hadn't she stepped foot outside in three whole days?

Not being one to ignore a problem once she noticed it, Yang opted to take the direct approach, plopping down heavily at the foot of the bed where Blake was reading.

Blake's eyes never left her book. "Hi, Yang," she said warmly. "You seem bored."

"I _seem_ worried about you," she said. "Again."

" Wait, what?" Now Blake had her full attention on her partner, her book lowered to rest on her chest.

"You haven't left the academy in _days_, Blake. What's up?"

The cat Faunus gave a heavy sigh. "It's nothing, or at least, nothing we can do about right now."

"Try me," Yang said, sitting up against the wall and giving Blake a determined look. "You'd be surprised how many problems I can fix."

The smile that Blake sent her way was small and sad. "I don't think this is one of them."

"Is it Adam?" Yang asked, her voice and expression now softer, less brash.

"_No._" Blake shook her head resolutely, her long black hair falling across her shoulders. "I stopped letting him control my life when he was alive, and I'm not about to start now that he's gone."

Yang looked to her hands, one warm and soft, the other unfeeling and artificial. Why was everything a mystery with Blake? "Well, if it's nothing we can do about, why don't you let me take your mind off it? Come out with me. We can do something fun, just you and me, out on the town."

"Oh, Yang," Blake sighed. Her tone sounded both fond and melancholy, as if she were trying to explain an unpleasant truth to a child, or Ruby. "Tell you what, why don't you look up some places around town and run them by me?"

"Oh no." From across the room, Weiss picked up on what Blake had been hinting at, and did not look one bit happier for the knowledge. If anything, she looked like she was about to be ill. Blake just gave her friend a resigned little shrug. This was something that Yang was just going to have to learn for herself, a painful but necessary lesson, like figuring out that fire burns.

"Fine," Yang, not catching the exchange between her teammates. She wouldn't have understood the connotations if she had, anyway. She pulled out her scroll and began thumbing through local announcements. "Hey, the Atlesian Grand Opera is putting on a show tonight. It's all ritzy and sophisticated, just like you. We could get dressed all fancy, take the town by-"

"Read the fine print under the announcement."

"What? Well…" Yang peered closer at the small text at the bottom of the graphic announcing the opera. "Black tie dress code, no alcohol on the premises… _no Faunus are permitted at this venue?!_"

"You won't see Faunus in formal attire in higher Atlas unless they're wait staff," Blake informed her, matter-of-factly.

"The Atlesian Grand Opera can get stuffed," Yang growled. Her scowl deepened as she scrolled through other Atlesian attractions, restaurants, and clubs, seeing just how many of them banned Faunus from them outright. She was mad at Atlas, of course, mad as hell, but she was more angry with herself. How had she never noticed that they had never seen any Faunus when she and her friends had been out and about? No, scratch that, she had seen a few as menial laborers and custodians, never any actually enjoying the upper city the way the humans around those places were. Yang felt like a complete and utter heel for never realizing that Atlas, at least the upper city, was completely hostile to her partner.

"Okay, well, this movie theater says it admits Faunus," Yang began. "We can go see a movie?"

"Atlas Multiplex?" Blake asked.

Yang checked. "Uh-huh."

"We still wouldn't be able to see the movie together."

"What?!" Yang checked the smaller print. "Species segregated seating enforced?!"

"I would have to purchase my ticket at the front, walk around to the back to get in, and then sit in a separate area designated for Faunus," Blake said, as matter-of-factly as of she had been discussing the weather. "Let us fall to our knees and thank the Atlas Multiplex for their beneficence."

"Mother_fucker!"_ Yang threw her Scroll to the ground, her irises red with fury. She didn't swear often, but when she did, it meant that she was well and truly wrathful. "Where are Faunus supposed to go to do anything, then?"

"The lower city, of course. There _is_ a Faunus district on the ground. But I'd have to take a Bullhead to get down there, and I'd need a good reason to come back up. I don't know of any Faunus in the upper city that aren't also attending the academy. I'd be suspicious, and that brings the cops, and since I'm not actually a student here, I'd probably get arrested. It's a lot of trouble and attention, so I just stay in here."

There was a silence as Yang absorbed her partner's words. The blonde turned to address Weiss, who was sitting on her bed with her shoulders slumped and gaze downcast.

"Weiss, I want to burn your hometown to the goddamn ground."

"I hear there's an organization you can join to do just that," Blake said, her tone dry. "But the Grimm mask is a bad look."

"Yeah, I'd look like my friggin' _mom_," Yang spat. She flopped onto her back next to Blake. "Why didn't you say anything? We wouldn't have gone if we knew you couldn't."

"You all were having fun," Blake said with a little shrug. "I didn't want to hold you back. The world is wide open and full of possibilities, for humans."

The cat Faunus felt Yang's arms wrap around her, her partner pulling in close to her with the sort of easy intimacy that they had cultivated recently. "You're worth more than all the Dust in Atlas," Yang told her, pressing her forehead into Blake's shoulder. "This city is stupid."

Just then, the door opened, and Ruby Rose popped into the room. "Hey guys, I was talking to Jaune, do you want to-" she cut off as she took in the mood of her teammates. Weiss looked dejected, Yang was clinging to Blake as though she would fade away if she didn't, and Blake was sitting up in her bed, her book laying neglected on her chest as Yang nuzzled her.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked with a tilt of her head. "Did someone die?"

"Atlas sucks," Yang announced, her voice slightly muffled.

"Your sister wanted to take Blake out tonight… but virtually nowhere in the upper city would accept them," Weiss informed her.

"What? Why not?"

Yang proceeded to call Atlesians a series of shocking expletives that threatened to peel the paint off of the dorm room walls.

"Quite," Weiss agreed. "To be more specific, the establishments of the upper city discriminate against Faunus as a default."

"That's awful! Why would they do such a thing?"

"My mom wrote a book about it for her doctoral thesis," Blake suggested. "But to make a long story very short, the rich Atlesians keep the poor human Atlesians from turning on the upper class by directing their ire towards a smaller, physically distinct minority. The lower class humans get a simple answer to why things go wrong, and get social capital from being above the Faunus. It helps if they see society as a zero-sum game; if something benefits Faunus, it must hurt humans. If something hurts Faunus, it must help humans. For example, the Atlesian Grand Opera doesn't admit Faunus; if a human wanted to reach success as an opera singer, eliminating an entire category of people from competition means that their own chances are increased. Limiting Faunus opportunity creates a steady supply of cheap, disposable labor for conglomerates like the SDC, as well as desperate recruits for the military. And if the Faunus boil over into riots, violence, or the White Fang, then that proves that we're vicious beasts that need to be controlled by humans."

Blake was met by three incredulous stares. "My mom was the first Faunus to earn a PhD in sociology from a human academy. She's very smart."

"So… what does that all mean for us?" Ruby asked.

"Means I need to keep out of the way so our mission can go smoothly," Blake said.

Ruby's mouth tightened into a line. She shared a look with Weiss, who nodded and stood up next to the young team leader. "Okay," Ruby began. "We might not be able to make it all the way right, but we can make things at least a little right for our beloved teammate!"

"Yeah!" Weiss and Yang cheered, fists raised, while Blake just raised an eyebrow.

"Weiss, you're with me!" Ruby ordered. "Blake, keep doing Blakey things! Yang, snuggles!"

"Snuggle-lock initiated!" Yang reported, continuing to cling to her partner. Blake rolled her eyes fondly as Ruby and Weiss dashed out of the room, no doubt to inform Team JNPR of their discovery. She had no doubt that they would all cease doing any more business in the upper city than was strictly necessary; her human friends might be a little oblivious about Faunus issues, but they were all good people, and once those issues were pointed out to them, they wouldn't stand to see one of their own mistreated. There still wasn't a whole lot that they could do while keeping a low profile and working on their mission, but it was the thought that counted, more than they could know.

With that, Blake settled in for a quiet morning of reading, though this time, she had a warm, comfy Yang keeping her company. Her people's struggle still weighed on her, but for now, she could put the outer world aside and just enjoy the snuggles.

**[/]**

A few hours after Ruby and Weiss's departure, someone knocked on Team RWBY's door. Blake's cat ears perked up, and Yang pulled out of the sleepy stupor in which she'd been resting. It was probably someone from JNPR, since Ruby or Weiss wouldn't have bothered knocking.

"Come in," Blake called.

Instead of one of their friends from their sister team, the bright, irrepressible cat Faunus of Atlas Academy rolled in on her skates. "Oh hi, you guys," she called out, her pink tail swishing happily back and forth. "_Please_ tell me I'm interrupting something. I can come back later, if you need."

Blake realized the connotations of the both of them in bed, with Yang clinging to her. Those weren't bad connotations, but they weren't quite accurate to what the young women had been doing either. "Nah, we're just getting up, Miss.."

"Oh, don't tell me you forgot me already. I'm Neon Katt, coolest kitty in Atlas!"

Yang gave a little shrug. "So… how can we help you?"

"You guys need to get dressed, duh!" Neon tossed a couple of dresses onto the bed the two shared. "It's totally date night! Your friends are all super busy setting everything up, so I volunteered to get your lazy butts out of bed already!"

"Date night?" Blake asked, looking to Yang.

"This has got Ruby all over it," Yang replied. She stood up and examined the white dress, clearly meant for her. The blonde then looked up at Neon who waved happily. "You're not going to leave so we can change?"

"Why?" Neon asked, her face utterly devoid of subterfuge.

"Oh, I don't know," Yang began. "Just thought I might be too 'top heavy' for your viewing pleasure. Never did go on that diet, by the way."

"Ooh, you're not taking a little tournament trash-talk seriously, are you?"

Yang just stared at her.

Neon stared back with a little kitty smile on her face.

Yang pushed her out of the room, ignoring her protest, and slammed the door.

[/]

Blake and Yang followed Neon down the hallway, with Blake having mollified Neon's hurt feelings with a few kind words. The rainbow cat Faunus led them into a small auditorium, the entrance to which had apparently been decorated to imitate an upscale Atlesian restaurant. Both girls recognized the telltale signs of Weiss decor in the doilies and white curtains.

They were met at the door by a grinning Nora, wearing a vest with a bow tie. "Hello!" she called cheerfully. "Belladonna, table for two, correct?"

"That's us," Yang said, playing along.

"Great! We have a table reserved just for you!"

Blake rolled her eyes, clearly expecting for it to just be a single table in the auditorium. To her surprise, the entire place was full of tables, each one seating Faunus or Faunus-human couples. Flynt Coal was up on stage, playing that smooth jazz on his trumpet, occasionally busting out the quartet for more complex pieces. Blake's golden eyes were wide as she saw Jaune, Nora, and Ruby waiting tables, alongside Weiss Schnee, of all people. The Schnee girl was a good sport about it, too, taking pictures with Faunus students while posing with her serving tray. Blake knew that seeing pictures of a Schnee doing waitressing, let alone for Faunus students, would drive Weiss's father into an apoplectic fit.

"This is amazing," she finally said. "This must be just about every Faunus student in Atlas Academy here."

"I know, right?" Yang was looking around. "How did they get all of this set up in just four hours?"

Jaune slid up next to their table, dressed similarly to Nora and carrying a tray with wine glasses and a bottle in a small bucket of ice. "Wine for ze distinguished ladies?" he asked, in an exaggerated accent. "We have a lovely '32 Red, personally looted from ze Schnee family wine cellar."

Yang giggled helplessly as Blake blinked in shock. "Wow, when Weiss wants to troll her dad, she goes all out, huh?"

"Oui, nothing but ze best for ze fine Faunus of Atlas," Jaune said with a wink. Blake smiled from ear to ear as she held out a glass for Jaune to fill. After he finished with hers, he filled Yang's, and the two had a little toast.

A small chime came from Jaune's scroll. "Excusez-moi, mademoiselles, I must attend to ze main course. I shall leave ze bottle, yes? Yes, of course. Au revoir!" With that, their friend was off again, leaving Blake and Yang to stare in stunned silence before breaking out in laughter.

"What… what even was that language?" Yang gasped between her laughter.

"I hear Weiss likes it," Blake said, leaning in conspiratorially.

"Oh, the scandal!" Yang mimed fanning herself.

The wine really was quite good, and the knowledge that it would piss off Jacques Schnee to no end to know that it had been swiped to serve freely to disenfranchised Faunus students made it even sweeter to Blake and Yang. Spite makes any drink go down smoother.

The double doors to the auditorium burst open as Team JNPR carried in platters of food. Lie Ren wore his "Please do nothing to the cook" apron, as well as an outrageously tall chef's hat. The diners began to applaud as the human teenagers began serving plates heaped high with succulent meats, bowels of fine, fresh produce, and, most critically of all to Blake, the mouthwatering ichthy goodness of high quality seafood.

Jaune came to their table with a platter of seafood. "For ze distinguished ladies, sesame seared ahi tuna, halibut Florentine, and salmon sashimi. Bon apetit!"

Blake had died and gone to fishy heaven. Yang was no epicurean when it came to seafood, but even she could tell that it was very good. She ate, sipped her wine, and watched happily as Blake, practically doing a giddy dance in her chair, nearly had a fish-induced orgasm as she tried the ahi tuna. Her kitty smile was in full force, even showing her canines, which Yang hadn't known she could even do.

"Excuse me. May I have your attention please?" On the stage, Flynt Coal tapped on the mic. The excited chatter died down as the diners waited for Flynt to continue. "Thank you. Now, it's no surprise that Atlas is a raw deal for a lot of people. But of all the people, no one's got it worse than the Faunus. So, some friends of ours from Beacon Academy had this idea, to show how much our Faunus friends and teammates mean to us. This night is just the start. Team FNKI is proud to announce that we are calling for an academy-wide boycott of _all_ businesses that discriminate against the Faunus!"

The room erupted into applause, with Blake clapping politely. It wasn't that she doubted their sincerity, so much that there were still many teams in Atlas that had no Faunus members, and may not care enough to join. She wished Team FNKI well in their attempt, but had reservations as to its success.

When the applause had died down, Flynt spoke up again. "We know we can't change Atlas overnight, but we want our Faunus colleagues to know that they are not forgotten and they are not alone."

A smattering of laughter broke out as Neon, changed into a shimmering violet sheath dress, stalked onto the stage. Her crush on her team leader was the stuff of school legend. She crouched down, ready to pounce, even wiggling her butt in anticipation of her lunge.

"And so, we hope you enjoy this night. Thank you, and-"

"But Flynt!" Neon pounced, hopping onto Flynt's back, her tail swishing happily. "How is it date night if you're up here, and not sitting with me!"

"C'mon, Neon, I'm doing the music for these people! I'll make it up to you-"

"I believe I can take over," Weiss appeared on stage, her own microphone in hand. "After all, we can't have this girl have anything less than a perfect evening, can we?"

"Aw, damn it, Schnee." Flynt, obviously defeated, allowed Neon to drag him offstage to a candlelit table.

Blake settled in to listen to her famous friend give a live, solo performance. As she polished off the last of the fish, she allowed herself to simply relax, scooting her chair next to Yang so she could snuggle on her for a change. For the life of her, she could not recall ever feeling so comfortable in a crowd, even in Menagerie. She allowed herself to imagine a future in which this was the norm, humans and Faunus intermingling freely, no White Fangs, no Cardin Winchesters, just different people coming together.

Like herself and Yang. Yang was loud, brash, and usually entirely unsubtle, but she was strong in ways that Blake could only dream of being. When Yang was with her, she didn't just feel accepted, she felt _safe_. She hoped Yang had prepared herself, because Blake was never going to let her go again.

**[/]**

The night was, by all accounts, a remarkable success. Morale amongst the Faunus students had never been higher, and a surprisingly large segment of the human students had already signed a boycott pledge, with possibly more to come. Weiss had shut down her father's blotchy-faced screaming by simply inquiring if begrudging minor comforts to raise morale among the brave Huntresses and Huntsmen of Atlas was the official stance of the SDC, or just his own, completing her grand troll against him. But most importantly, to Yang's estimation, was that her partner had had a grand time, smiling and laughing, enjoying the night that Atlas would have denied them.

So, she was a bit surprised when, as they arrived at their team quarters late that night, Ruby and Weiss had split off.

"We're, uh, doing a sleepover with Team JNPR," Ruby said.

"Without you two," Weiss added.

Blake and Yang shared a look before regarding the other half of the team. "Um… why?" Blake asked.

"Just shut up and kiss my sister already, she's, like, _so gay_ for you!" With that, Ruby was gone at Semblance speed, dragging poor Weiss with her for the ride.

The cat Faunus turned to Yang, a sly look on her face. "Is that so?"

Yang's face was red. "I… would probably have worded it differently, but she wasn't wrong" she admitted.

"Well… we can't just leave you hanging out here, can we?"

Yang's eyes widened. "Blake-?"

Blake took her face in her hands and pulled her into a kiss. Yang melted into her, full of desperate need. Blake pulled at the straps of Yang's dress, offended by the cloth that stood between them. She felt a bed at the back of her knees and fell back onto it, pulling Yang on top of her, her lover's blonde hair spilling like golden fire across bare flesh. At some point, her own dress was pulled off of her, but Blake was far beyond modesty at that point, arching her back to give Yang full access to her. She needed Yang's lips on her, craved it more than anything she had ever wanted before in her life, and was overjoyed when her lover indulged her.

Blake fell into the kiss of the flame, and lost herself in its warmth.

[/]

All things considered, it was a lovely garden that Blake found herself in, though for the life of her, she could not recall where it was, or how it was she had found it. Vines adorned marble walls and columns, flowers blooming wildly in an uncontrolled explosion of joyous colors. A waterfall fed a pool of crystal clear water, the sounds of gentle cascades filling her ears. The sun was high and bright, warm and inviting, and Blake relished the feel of it on her bare skin.

As she stretched languidly, she realized that her head rested on Yang's lap as the other woman knelt next to the pool. She felt Yang's fingers stroking through her hair. They were both nude, but somehow, Blake felt no sense of concern or embarrassment to this. This garden was their place, their paradise, and here, the world could never touch them.

"You're beautiful," she said, studying the way the sun glinted off of the water beads that clung to Yang's bronze skin.

"Gee, tell me something I don't know," Yang said with a wink, prompting Blake to giggle. Paradise or no paradise, Yang was Yang. Always would be.

"I love your Yanginess," Blake told her. "Just… all of it. You're strong and stubborn and silly, and sexy… and you care. You care so much. You're the most amazing woman."

"Well, you see the things I can't," Yang said in turn. "You've always been front and center in the fight for justice. You're as mysterious and all embracing as the night, as enticing as the shadow. How can I be the most amazing woman when I'm holding her in my lap?"

"We'll split it," Blake said with a sleepy smile. "You be the most amazing woman for one week, and then I'll be the most amazing woman the next."

"Sounds good to me."

"I wish we could stay here forever," Blake said. "Just you and me… and maybe some delicious fish."

Yang scrunched her nose at her. "Oh you and your fish," she said. "Unfortunately, we can't stay here."

"Why not?"

Blake woke up.

[/]

Well, she was certainly not in a garden of paradise, but this wasn't the worst morning she'd ever had. Yang was pressed in close to her, their legs intertwined in an intimate embrace. If not for the fact that both women had worked up a sweat the previous evening and were now in dire need of a shower, it would have been downright dandy. Well, that and the state of the bedsheets. Morning cleanup was definitely a priority. She smiled as she felt Yang stir in her arms.

"Morning, gorgeous," she said.

Yang fixed her with a look, as she took in her surroundings and the events of the previous night came back to her. She fixed Blake with a brilliant smile. "You stayed," she breathed.

"Well yeah. You're kind of stuck with me now," she said.

"Jeeze, by the state of these sheets, I might be stuck _to _you now," quipped Yang.

After some brief work disentangling themselves, Yang rolled out of bed, pulling into a long stretch. Blake marveled at the interplay of muscles, her lover's body being both practical implement of war and chiseled work of art.

"You're beautiful," Blake gasped.

"Gee, tell me something I don't know."

A beat.

"Did you-" Blake began.

"With a garden," Yang continued.

"What… what does that mean?"

"Magic? Semblance? Natural aftermath of damn good sexing? Who knows?" Yang shrugged. "It was nice, though."

"It was."

"Maybe one day, when all of this is over, we could go looking for it again."

"You mean like the real world?"

"Sure. Just you and me, not a care in the world, traveling the globe to find our secret places."

"I'd like that." Blake looked up to Yang. "But… I'm pretty sure that I'll find it wherever you are."

"Aren't you sweet?" Yang winked at her.

"According to you from last night, I apparently taste like honey."

Yang blushed again, unused to having been outflirted. Well, that was a state of affairs that could not stand.

"Well, only one way to find out for sure," she said. "Wanna join me in the shower?"

All the Grimm in Remnant wouldn't have been enough to keep Blake away.

[/]

**Entry Endnotes: The racial dynamics in my version of Atlas aren't subtle, but sometimes I think RWBY is a little too subtle about the plight of the Faunus. The way I see it, if the SDC is comfortable enough to start **_**branding **_**Faunus, **_**in the face,**_** than Atlas is probably pretty damn bad for Faunus, probably equivalent to Apartheid South Africa, or the United States for most of its history. The point is, you don't get an organization like the White Fang without heavy oppression, the portrayal of which RWBY has tended to shy from.**

**I love having Weiss troll her dad.**

**I don't know if this is a comfortable level of risque, so let me know what you think. I just felt like making it explicit that, yes, they banged, and yes, it was **_**awesome.**_

**While I was in the editing phase of this entry, Shadow282's "Random Thoughts" had an entry whose synopsis hit on some of the same themes as this entry. I **_**almost**_** deleted this, but after reading the other story, it went in a different enough direction that I felt comfortable posting this. And check out "Random Thoughts," while you're at it; the chapter with a remorseful post-Volume 5 Raven and an increasingly pissed-off Taiyang is my favorite.**

**See you all next time!**

**-Mahina **


	6. Lovedaddy Strikes Again!

**Author's Note: When you get a shippy little idea that won't fit anywhere else, you know what time it is? That's right, it's time for another RWBY Romance Drabble! This entry takes place in an AU where the nefarious plot of Volume 3 was foiled without casualty. Today's episode: Taiyang's got his groove back. **

**Entry 6: Lovedaddy Strikes Again!**

**[/]**

You know, it wasn't every day Qrow Branwen bothered to actually ask a woman out. Oh sure, there were flings across Remnant with barmaids, fellow drunks with poor life choices, the occasional professional companion, and once, an entire bachelorette party, including the bride-to-be. So yeah, Qrow had got around his fair share, maybe a bit more than his fair share even, but… well, it's not like he ever even knew their names or anything. No one had ever meant more to him than just a warm body for the night since, well…

He tried hard not to think of silver eyes softly gazing in love and adoration as she fell for someone who wasn't him.

But that was then, and _then_ had been a long damn time ago now. So when he'd met a woman that actually got him feeling, well, anything again, it wasn't so hard a decision to try and find out if there could be something to those feelings. On paper, it made no damn sense whatsoever. Winter was the very model of a major modern soldier, disciplined and precise, and Qrow was, well, _Qrow_. But anyone who had seen the two of them fighting each other had all been able to see the chemistry between them. And sure, that chemistry was volatile and likely to explode, but what fun is chemistry without a little kaboom?

He shuddered as he remembered the little smirk on her face as she balanced on his sword, sending him an arrogant challenge before kicking off into a flip. It wasn't something that she would have done consciously; it was a sincere emotion, a little taste of the fire she had hidden under all that ice. What made it even better was that _he_ was the one that brought that out in her, reaching the defiant woman beneath the facade.

Qrow hadn't even looked at another woman since that fight.

So, that's how he found himself dialing up Winter Schnee, of all people, on the Scroll. A moment later, and her image manifested on his screen. Gods, she really was beautiful. He must have caught her after a shower, because her bun was untied, the silver hair falling loosely around her bare shoulders, her soft smooth skin glistening with a watery sheen. Qrow gulped.

"Yes, Qrow, what is it? I trust you're not wasting my time with another juvenile prank?"

He cleared his throat. "Actually, since I heard you were going to be in Vale this weekend, I thought I'd ask if you'd let me take you out on the town. You know, bury the hatchet, facilitate, uh, interagency cooperation, that sort of thing."

Winter stared at him for a long moment. Finally she said, "As it just so happens, I have an upcoming social engagement for the evening, dinner and dancing with a charming man that my little sister introduced me to."

"I...what?" It never occurred to Qrow that Winter might go for someone else. I mean, have you met the girl? She had all the warmth and charm of an ice cube!

On the screen, Winter looked pleased by his consternation. "Indeed. He's a handsome, mature Huntsman. He's also quite pleasing to the eye, I might add."

Qrow actually _pouted_. "But… I'm a handsome, mature Huntsman…"

Winter laughed then, and hard. "You're not mature, Qrow, you're just old." She ignored the sudden, wheezing sound of Qrow recoiling as if he'd been hit right in the solar plexus. "This man is a dedicated, professional instructor, and a single father with an innate sense of responsibility. It's actually how Weiss knew him, as he raised two of her teammates on his own."

Wait. No. She couldn't mean…

"In fact, you two probably know each other. Tell me, have you met one Taiyang Xiao Long?"

[/]

Taiyang whistled cheerfully as he walked down the stairs. It'd been a long time since he'd had occasion to wear his suit, and he looked rather sharp, all things considered. As he adjusted his cufflinks, his Scroll rang. He fished it out of his pocket as he passed by the kitchen, where Ruby and Yang were eating the dinner he'd prepared for them. Yang gave him a thumbs-up as he raised the Scroll to answer.

"Hello?"

Instead of the white-haired woman he'd been expecting, the Scroll showed him a decidedly pissed-off Qrow Branwen.

"_Tai_."

"Oh hey buddy, what's up?"

Qrow looked like he was wrestling to find the right words, before he finally settled on "The fuck?!"

"Woah, hey, the girls are here, watch the language!"

"Tai, why do you have a date with Winter Schnee?"

Tai raised an eyebrow. "Uh, because she asked me to dinner? Nice girl. A little too tense, but she may just need to relax a little. Wait, how do you know her?"

He could see a vein throb in Qrow's forehead. "_Damn it_, Tai, how come everytime I meet a woman, she goes for you?! What have you got that I don't? Just… what the f-frag!" Despite his outrage, Branwen managed to catch himself before he dropped another f-bomb where the girls might hear.

Taiyang gave a little shrug, one paired with a wry, sad smile. "Have you tried sobering up? Your habits put Summer off, and that was almost twenty years ago. Drunk and moody might have worked for short, uh, '_entanglements_' when we were boys, but at our age… well, it's more sad than sexy."

On the screen, Qrow looked like he had just bitten into something sour. "I just… damn it. You better treat her right, okay?"

"Hey man, it's me."

Qrow sighed, dejected. "Yeah. Yeah, I know."

[/]

Taiyang waited at a booth at the ritziest restaurant in Vale. He'd never actually been there before, but then, he'd never had _cause_ to before. He'd certainly never been waved in to a VIP lounge before, not for anywhere he'd been in his entire life. The benefits of a Schnee as a date, he supposed.

"Professor Xiao Long."

Speaking of dates…

He stood to greet Winter Schnee. The young soldier truly was a stunning beauty. She'd opted for a low-cut sheath dress in shimmering blue silk, and wore silver and blue earrings paired with a matching necklace. Taiyang caught himself at the necklace, though, making sure to keep his eyes up and in the proper place. She regarded him with a slight smile.

"I almost had you there."

He gave a slight bow. "What can I say, Specialist, I'm a lonely man."

"Well, hopefully we'll fix that tonight."

"Hopefully, we'll fix a lot of things tonight."

She arched an eyebrow before she took a seat, Taiyang sitting across from her. "So, I take it he called you as you thought?"

"His exact words were, and I quote here, 'Tai, the fuck?!'" Tai chuckled at his best friend's expense. "I basically told him to grow up if he wanted women to take him seriously."

Winter glanced at the table. "That's good to hear." She flushed, looking awkwardly shy. "I… I don't want him to completely change, I just don't want him to keep destroying himself."

Taiyang waved his hand. "He'll be fine. He's a tough old bird, and once he stops moping and realizes that I'm right, he'll come around."

"I hope you're correct, Professor."

He gave her a smile. Nice girl, under all the ice. He could see how she and Qrow could mesh well together, with him helping her to loosen up and her helping to give him the structure he needed to keep himself together. Faking a date with her was a good way to help slap Qrow into getting his life together, but he had his sights set on someone a little closer to his own age. Speaking of which…

"Ah, Glynda!"

Tai and Winter both stood and waved down their third for the party. Glynda Goodwitch was almost unrecognizable, with her hair down, glasses replaced with contacts, and clad in a classic halter-style Little Black Dress. It was through an act of iron will that Taiyang kept his wandering eyes from devouring her form. Others were less restrained, and a chorus of wolf-whistles and catcalls followed her as she made her way to their booth, only silencing when she turned and levelled one of her world-famous death glares at, well, everyone in the general vicinity.

"You've still got it, Glynda," Taiyang greeted her.

She rolled her green eyes in exasperation. "It's good to see you, Mister Xiao Long. I will confess, though, sometimes, I rather wish I didn't still have it. Honestly, you'd think these men had never seen a woman before."

"The curse of beauty," Winter commiserated. "You'd be stunned how often I have to remind junior officers to keep their eyes on their charts, not on my chest."

Glynda scoffed. "I teach _teenagers_, Specialist. Half the reason I have to scare them so badly is because I'd never get them to stop proclaiming their adolescent love for me otherwise."

Taiyang paused as he remembered something. "That reminds me, my girls haven't been giving you any trouble at Beacon, have they?"

Glynda then did something so unexpected that no one who knew her would ever believe Tai or Winter when they told them; she _laughed_. It wasn't that the laugh itself was scary - on the contrary, it was rather musical - but the fact that it was _Glynda Goodwitch_ making that sound was still profoundly disturbing. "Oh, Mister Xiao Long, you haven't the _first clue_ about the trouble those girls can cause. Remind me to tell you of the Great Beacon Food Fight sometime."

"My girls were in a food fight in Beacon?" Tai scratched his chin. "Well, I guess that's not _so_ bad."

Winter smirked. "Don't worry, Professor, I'm sure that Beacon can provide all the discipline that your daughters require."

At this, Glynda rounded on the younger woman. "I wouldn't be so gleeful, Specialist, as your little sister was involved too."

"_What?!_" Winter looked aghast.

"Indeed. Substituted ketchup for Dust, and was, at one point, wielding an entire marlin as a substitute for her rapier." Seeing the look on Winter's face, Glynda couldn't resist a smirk of her own as she went for the kill. "Of course, considering her role model, I shouldn't be so hard on young Weiss. Maybe inappropriate and uncouth fighting on Beacon grounds is simply a trait of the Schnee women?"

The Atlesian beauty flushed deeply in embarrassment, as Taiyang coughed awkwardly. Time to change the subject.

"So," he said to Glynda, "I'm guessing James didn't respond well to the news?"

Goodwitch, having thoroughly trounced Winter in verbal combat, opted to go along with the change in subject. "He wasn't pleased, of course, but I'm hoping that the… _implications_ that I may be open to other suitors will galvanize him sufficiently out of his self-pity."

Beacon had, by the razor-thinnest of margins, avoided catastrophe, and the revelation of the havoc that all of his efforts to keep people safe could have wreaked had taken a toll on General Ironwood, his pride most of all. Glynda had neither time nor patience for immature brooding, and so had opted to employ the same tactics that Winter and Taiyang had devised.

For his part, while Glynda was always pleasant, if intimidating, company, she wasn't Taiyang's real date either. "Hey, has anyone heard from Priscilla?"

Glynda frowned. Priscilla Peach, Beacon's Applied Dust instructor, was a shy, mousey woman, and not just because she was a mouse Faunus. The woman was only in her element when researching, experimenting with, discussing, and instructing others on, Dust. Professor Peach was otherwise reclusive. She had a difficult time opening up to others, with Glynda herself being one of her few friends. So when the woman had mentioned that she hadn't had a date in more than a decade, as it just so happened, Glynda knew a kind man around her age who could also stand to get out of the house. If going along to lend moral support also scared James into getting his act together, well, Glynda always did admire efficiency.

The Deputy Headmistress took her Scroll from her purse and gave Priscilla a quick call. After a moment, she answered it, and Glynda heard the same ambient music playing on her call as was playing in the restaurant. "Oh, um, hi Glynda. I'm sorry that I'm late, there's this man here who says that I'm not allowed to enter."

"What?" Glynda frowned. "Okay, stay there, we'll come to you."

"Oh, okay."

"So what's up?" asked Tai, as Glynda put her Scroll away and stood to leave.

"Someone is barring her entry. Winter, you did put her on the list, correct?"

Winter looked puzzled. "Of course. In fact, her name was just behind Taiyang's, and ahead of yours. What could…" Winter scowled as a thought occurred to her. "You two go collect Professor Peach. I'll meet you with the manager."

The pair of them left the VIP lounge, and found Priscilla at the entryway to the restaurant. The professor was a small, slender woman of middle age, though still quite pretty. She wore a cream colored skirt and blazer, and while her outfit looked more appropriate to a professional setting than high society, it wasn't enough to get rejected on the basis of a dress code. No, the most likely reason for the place to refuse her entry was due to the twin brown-furred mouse ears peeking from her sandy blonde hair.

"Oh, hello," she said softly as she saw them. Her deep brown eyes went wide as she took in Taiyang Xiao Long. He was _beautiful_, tall, muscular, tanned, and ruggedly handsome, with a sharp jaw adorned with stubble and deep blue eyes. He didn't seem at all put off by her Faunus trait, and if anything looked disgusted with the bouncer that had kept her in the entryway. If this all went well, Glynda would _never_ need to buy her own drinks on their nights out ever again!

Taiyang turned from the bouncer, opting to let Glynda deal with him. "Hi there," he said easily. "You must be Professor Peach?"

She felt her cheeks burn. That _voice!_ Who was this man, and how was he single?! "I'm Priscilla Peach, yes," she squeaked. She hated when she squeaked! She coughed delicately. "You can call me Prissy, though. I'm, um, I'm sorry if I ruined the night out."

"Don't be," he told her kindly. "It's not your fault, Prissy. Besides, the night just started. It's not ruined unless we say it is."

For some reason, when _he_ told her that, she found herself believing it.

"I'm sorry, lady, but boss's orders." The bouncer looked nervous, but refused to relent as he argued with Goodwitch. "People with VIP money ain't lookin' to rub shoulders with no furries."

Priscilla stiffened at the slur. Glynda was on the verge of _exploding _when Winter arrived. Tai was about to ask if she had any luck, when a man in an expensive suit entered the doorway behind them. Winter got right in the man's face with the assurance that only a Schnee could possess.

"You!" She pointed a finger in the man's face. "I was assured that your establishment was non-discriminatory! What is the meaning of this outrage!"

For his part the man held his ground. "I meant exactly what I said! There is a designated Faunus dining area on the veranda, for the more… _well-heeled_ of the Faunus in the area. I merely assumed that you had some servants you wished to reward for good behavior, not that you would be dining with them yourself. I'm sure that you can understand why, with a Schnee on the guest list, we were not anticipating… _mixed_ company."

The man may not have come right out with the slurs the way his employee had, but the sentiment was much the same. Priscilla looked dejected at the ground. "I'm sorry, everyone. I don't want people fighting over me. We should just go." She looked up suddenly as she felt Taiyang's large, warm hand on her shoulder.

Glynda joined Winter in getting in the man's face, and, wealthy or not, that man began to sweat. "This isn't over," Glynda spat. "I'll have this place blacklisted from Beacon Academy. Schnee's not the only one who knows people! I'll have this place condemned in a _week_, you hear me?!" With that, she stormed out of the restaurant, Winter in tow. Taiyang gave Peach a reassuring little shrug, and with that, they were off.

[/]

"Oh, but your daughter's an absolute prodigy in class," Priscilla said in between bites of pizza. The group was decamped in a public park with a large pizza, which Winter had stared at balefully before deigning to eat some of the cheesy goodness of the common man. It was sodding good pizza, though. In a more casual atmosphere, and without complications due to her heritage, Priscilla had become more verbal, especially when Taiyang had asked about her work.

"Ruby's an actual genius when it comes to the crafting of supplementary Dust rounds for her weapon," she continued. "Did you teach her that?"

Tai grinned at the small woman. Anyone who called his girl a genius was okay in his book. "Well, a little, at first, but she soon outpaced what _I_ could show her. I mostly slot small Dust crystals into my gauntlets. A little Wind and a lot of Fire for the Sun Dragon Fist style of martial arts."

"Oh, one of the elder Vacuoan styles, very old pre-mechanized Dust technique. I trust you designed the gauntlets so that you don't have the strain of direct Dust injection?"

"Well yeah, I'm the 'reckless rogue' type, not the 'idiot with a deathwish' type."

Winter rolled her eyes as she turned to Goodwitch. "You ever get the feeling you're a third wheel?"

"No. It must just be you." Glynda reached for another slice of pizza, only to discover that they had eaten it all. She sighed, forlorn. "Anyways, I'm just glad things are going better now. Thought for sure it was going down in flames at that restaurant."

"Oh," Winter's pale blue eyes flashed with fury. "Revenge will be _dire_."

"Dire _indeed_," Goodwitch agreed.

"Hey, isn't that your older daughter?" they heard Peach ask. As she spoke, they heard the roar of a motorcycle and saw the unmistakable sight of Yang Xiao Long speeding through the city, "I thought she was going to stay at Patch with her sister for the weekend?"

"Yeah," Tai ground out. "I thought so too." He stood. "Sorry ladies, but, you know, parenting to be done."

Even moreso than her earlier laughter, the sudden, sly smile that spread across Glynda's face truly unnerved them all. "Mister Xiao Long, how would you like to _truly_ dissuade your daughter from nocturnal delinquency?"

[/]

Yang strutted away from the dance floor at Junior's club, supremely confident that she held the gaze of nearly all the men there, and quite a few of the women too. Hey, it wasn't _her_ fault she was the hottest thing around. Being beautiful, glamorous, and infinitely desirable was just her natural state of being, you know? Tigers gonna tiger, sharks gonna shark, and Yang's gonna Yang. She rocked up to the bar with nary a care in the world, ordering her usual drink, which came to her almost immediately. Good to see that they'd finally learned who was in charge around here.

She took a sip of sweet, delicious Strawberry Sunrise, only to spit it out as she turned and saw _her father_ seated at a table nearby! What was he doing here?! What was even stranger was that he had Chesty Weiss and… _Professor Peach_ of all people there with him too, one on each arm.

That was just… _weird._

Well, whatever, at least the women were keeping him distracted. He hadn't seen her yet, but it was time to _skeedaddle_, while she still could. She spun around to leave…

And came face-to-face with an angry Glynda Goodwitch.

Yang swore that she could actually feel her soul leave her body out of sheer terror as she beheld the form of Beacon Academy's strictest disciplinarian. Soon enough, she was frog-marched over to her father's table, where he shook his head sadly.

"Yang, what are you doing here?"

Bluff! Bluff like your life depended on it!

"I was just… uh, dancing! Yep, nothing wrong with dancing at a club, just having fun! Woo…"

"And your sister?"

Yang waved her hand. "Aw, she's fine. She's at Beacon now, she needs to be more independent anyway!"

"So you _haven't _been underage drinking and speeding through the city?"

"Uh…"

At that time, one of those bitchy little sisters, the red one, chose to come up and bring her her drink. "Here you go, sir, another one just like you like it. Will there be anything else, or should I just add it to your tab?"

Aw, nuts.

"Oh, you can bring me that tab, won't you? I'll make sure it gets paid, " Dad told the bar worker.

"Of course." The little bitch had the nerve to wink at her as she left. That was just uncalled-for. Okay, sure, Yang had trashed her place of employment, and personally pummeled her, her sister, her employer, and probably everyone she knew, and all for no good reason, but _still!_ Not cool!

In a moment, Dad received a bill, for a large number of alcoholic drinks, and...renovation costs? Well, that squared with what he had heard from the bar's owner. He sighed. "Yeah, see, this is why I worry that I've gone wrong raising you girls. Underage drinking, reckless driving, assault, battery… I can't help but feel like I've let you both down."

Yang fought down tears. She had an _amazing_ Dad, and anyone who said otherwise needed a good punch in the face, even if that anyone included said Dad. " Dad, don't. I chose to do these things. It's my fault, not yours or Ruby's, or anyone else. I just… I didn't think about how it would hurt you."

He shared a glance with the other women at the table. "Well, I still feel as though I could use some help. So, that's why… well, one of these women here could become your new stepmother!"

Yang blinked. Her brain did not compute. "Eh?"

"You have a lovely family, and I'm sure with lots of intensive tutoring, we can get your non-combat grades up to an acceptable standard," Peach offered.

To the other side of Taiyang, Winter huffed. "I know all about keeping little girls out of trouble. Trust me, with me guiding you, you'll be too busy excelling to waste time on delinquency."

Yang gulped. Slowly, trembling, she turned to see Goodwitch. "Good discipline starts at home," she began. "By keeping you and your sister out of trouble early, I can spare myself an untold number of headaches for the next three years. And if doing so has the fringe benefit of warming my nights with a handsome, strong man like your father…" Glynda smiled. She actually _smiled!_

Yang outright fainted out of sheer terror.

"Jeez, Glynda, think you put it on a little thick?" Taiyang asked as he helped the Headmistress lower Yang into a chair. For her part, Goodwitch was entirely unrepentant.

"Just mentioning the notion that I could be a part of her homelife should the delinquency continue should be enough to dissuade further… incident," she retorted.

Tai shook his head. "You're terrifying, Glynda. I just want you to know that." He then stood, prompting the other women - except for the unconscious Yang - to do the same. "Well, I'm gonna wait till she wakes up and call a cab. I guess this is where we call it a night, ladies."

"Right," Winter agreed. "Would you two like a lift back to Beacon?"

"That would be helpful, thank you," Glynda agreed. She turned to Tai. "This was an… unexpectedly diverting evening. Thank you," she told him.

"Yes, my thanks as well," Winter added distantly as she summoned a vehicle with her Scroll.

Priscilla flushed, and then, before she could talk herself out of it, she impulsively stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. "Call me!" she squeaked, as she pressed a scrap of paper in his hand. With that, all three of Taiyang's dates departed the club, and he was left with his delinquent daughter and a slight smile on his face as he regarded the Scroll number in his hand.

Maybe he would give her a call…

[/]

A month had passed since the legendary triple-date of Taiyang Xiao Long, whom the awed students of Beacon - including a distressing number of crushing schoolgirls - had taken to calling "Lovedaddy," much to the chagrin of his daughters. To everyone's great relief, it had worked exactly as intended. General Ironwood had pulled himself out of his funk, amd was now back to his same, indomitable self. Yang hadn't been to a club since, her weekends spent working a part time job to pay the bill that Junior had given her father. Priscilla Peach was happily humming a song as she did her hair, preparing for a weekend alone with Taiyang at his cabin on Patch. And for Qrow?

Winter heard a knocking on her apartment door. She opened it to reveal one Qrow Branwen, but instead of hunching over, he stood straight. His eyes were clear, his clothes laundered, and the stench of alcohol was nowhere to be found. That was all she had wanted; the same roguish, irreverent Qrow, just not passed out in a puddle of his own vomit.

And people thought she had too-high standards. Ha!

She also noticed the bouquet of winter roses he carried in his hand.

She smiled. "Would you like to come in?"

**[/]**

**Entry Endnotes: Just because you're getting older, that's no reason to stop having fun.**

**Also, treat the ladies in your life right, or Lovedaddy will sweep them out from under your feet.**

**"Chesty Weiss" is a nickname pulled from Jiujitsudude's "Fighting Smart" fic. If you haven't read his Fighting series yet, you really should, as its action is great and its snark is the stuff of legend. **

**TL;DR, Tai's hot. **


	7. Vigil

**Entry 7: Vigil**

**[/]**

"Jaune?"

"Weiss. How are you?"

"I'm… quite fine, thank you for asking. About that… I'm given to understand that it was _you_ that convinced Neptune to change his mind about dancing with me the other night."

"Oh, he told you? Eh, don't worry about it. Guy just needed someone to help straighten out his priorities."

"Jaune… why did you do it?"

"What?"

"Why? Why help me? I've treated you with nothing but disdain ever since we met. Before that, even! Why, after all of that, would you go through the effort?"

"... I don't understand the question."

"What?"

"T-the question. I don't understand it."

"What is there in that query of which even… of which you could _possibly_ be confused?"

"Well, I should have taken no for an answer the first time. I was probably super annoying, with all the stupid flirting. No, it went beyond annoying and into disrespectful. So everything you dished out, I had it coming. Probably more, even."

"Jaune… okay, so it _was_ annoying, and you absolutely should have stopped after the first time I rejected you, but…"

"Eh. Don't worry about that. You just need to hit me _real _hard to get the point through."

"I'll bear that in mind for the future. It's just… with the two of us on such poor terms… Jaune, you could have had revenge. Watched the mean girl who kept rejecting you sit on the sidelines, alone and miserable with the same rejection she put you through."

"Isn't knowing how it feels to be rejected an even _better_ reason to help someone going through the same thing?"

"... "

"Besides, why would I ever want to see you suffering? Sure, I would have been thrilled to take you to the dance, but would you really have been happy with a backup date that badgered you into going with him? Nah, making your night by checking Nep made you much happier, and that's more than enough for me."

"... I don't know what to say… thank you. "

" Like I said, it's nothing. Anyways, I gotta get to class. See you 'round, Weiss."

"S-sure. Good afternoon, Jaune."

"..."

"..."

"... Jaune… "

[/]

"Jaune."

"Weiss. How are you?"

"We're all just… doing the best we can, I suppose."

"Right."

"... "

"... Was there something you needed from me, Weiss?"

"You've become… much more reticent in our time apart, Jaune."

"... Goodnight, Weiss."

"Jaune, wait!"

"What is it?"

"I… I know what you've been doing out here. The late night training sessions with… Pyrrha."

"... "

"... Jaune?"

"... "

"Jaune, please say something?"

"What do you want me to say, Weiss? I screwed up. I screwed up _bad_. Pyrrha's dead, and it's my fault."

"How is it-"

"_Because I cheated Beacon!_ I wanted to be some big damn hero, and because of that, Pyrrha wound up partnered with me. Not with someone like you, or Ruby, or… _anyone_ would have been better than me!"

"That's -"

"I was weak, Weiss! Weak, foolish, a fraud, _everything_ you ever said about me was absolutely right, and because of that, Pyrrha went to that tower alone! Remember the first time we met? You pointed out _exactly_ how much greater than me she was, and you asked by what _possible_ measure I could dream of being worthy as her partner. Well, guess what, you were right. As always. Must feel pretty damn good, huh?"

"... I...I…"

"... "

"..."

"... Weiss?"

"... Why would I ever want to see you suffer?"

"Ah hell, don't cry! I'm sorry, Weiss. I didn't… I didn't mean to -"

"You're not the only one hurting, you big… you overgrown _dunce_! How do you think the rest of us feel watching you torture yourself every night? We all miss Pyrrha, miss her so much it _aches_, but that doesn't mean that you tearing yourself to shreds is somehow going to make that any better! It just means that we're watching ourselves lose another friend!"

"..."

"..."

"... Did the punching help?"

"A little, yes."

[/]

"Jaune."

"Weiss. Is the wound acting up?"

"N-no! Quite the opposite, in fact. That healing maneuver was nothing short of miraculous. You should be very proud of yourself, Jaune."

"... Sure."

"Jaune Arc! Are you insinuating that I am somehow mistaken in my assessment of your abilities and their effects vis a vis the prevention of my sudden and untimely demise?"

"... I broke even at best."

"What?"

"It's my fault everything went as bad as it did. I rushed Cinder, didn't think, didn't plan. I just charged her out of pure, unthinking rage."

"Excuse me? My performance in battle, for good or ill, is _my_ responsibility, Jaune Arc, not yours, not anyone else's, but _mine_. Had I not had my Aura depleted by dint of being summarily annihilated by a lowborn bandit, I would not have been so vulnerable to Cinder's attack."

"... I had her."

"Explain."

"Cinder. When Ruby did… whatever it was that Ruby did, it dropped Cinder. I had the perfect shot. The one-in-a-million shot. I went to gut her, but I couldn't make out that she had fallen to her knees. Instead of stabbing at her torso, I ended up _just_ deflecting off the side of her mask. My one great shot, and I blew it. Because of that, she lived. Because of… "

"What is it?"

"It's nothing."

"..."

"..."

"...You can either tell me or continue to feel the wrath of my finger pokes, Jaune Arc."

"You _do_ realize that the armor kinda takes the threat out of the finger chest pokes, right?"

"How much, precisely, are you willing to wager on that notion?"

"..."

"... "

"... Ow! How did you manage to do that?"

"You foolishly underestimated the dread Schnee Finger Poke. You continue to do so at your own peril."

"You know, if we could weaponize your finger pokes, we'd have Salem licked in a week."

"And now you're deflecting. Out with it."

"... It was something that I said to Cinder."

"...Well? I'm waiting."

"I… I told her that it doesn't matter if she killed me. If I died buying time for the rest of you… then it would be worth it. Because _you're_ the ones that matter, not me."

"... Jaune…"

"Look, it's… she took that as a challenge, I guess. The point is, she tried to kill you as a way to hurt me. Me, some dumb failure with a deathwish that she didn't even remember. I don't know why. Nothing about her makes any sort of sense. It's just… cruelty for the sake of cruelty. I don't know what destiny has in store for you, Weiss. But I _do_ know that you're meant for more than just… collateral damage in the sadistic games of a madwoman."

"I… Jaune, you matter too."

"Not from where I'm standing. I'm the weak link. Always have been. At least with this Semblance, I was able to keep you alive."

"Your life is more valuable than just buying time!"

"... Is it?"

"Jaune! Don't say that!"

"My Semblance makes you all stronger by using my own Aura. That's the reflection of my _soul_, Weiss. It's who I am on a fundamental level. I can tell you that, as I was watching you, helpless as you bled out… Weiss, you weren't breathing."

"..."

"If the only way my Semblance had worked would have been for me to take my sword and cut my own heart out to keep yours beating, I would have done it. Without a second thought."

"You listen here, Jaune Arc! You _are not_ going to throw your life away on suicidal death charges! You _are not_ going to sell your life so cheaply! And you _are not_ going to lay down your life for mine!"

"Why?"

"...Because _I _value your life more highly than that. We all do. And we will not sit back and watch as your embark on a guilt-induced death march, do you hear me?"

"I don't know that we have much of a choice there, Weiss. Pushing my Semblance to the limits and leaving myself vulnerable might make the difference between life and death, or the success or failure of our entire mission."

"Promise me that you won't kill yourself that way."

"I'm sorry. Truly, I am. But I can't make a promise that I know I might not be able to keep. Goodnight, Weiss."

"..."

"..."

"... Jaune… I wish you could see how beautiful you are…"

[/]

"Jaune Arc!"

"Hey, Weiss. How are you?"

"Don't you 'how are you' me, mister! Did you _truly_ think I wouldn't notice you falling to the back of the group? Or the way you're favoring your side?"

"Are you training to be a medic or something?"

"I might as well be, if you're going to _insist_ on taking wounds like that!"

"It's just some bruising. I'll be fine by tomorrow."

"Jaune, you were smashed into a boulder by an Atlesian War Machine that's bigger than most buildings."

"And because I was, Nora wasn't. As a nice bonus, I'm even up and kicking - yowch!"

"Look at that, the big brave Huntsman is on the floor because a ninety-pound girl poked his back."

"Seriously. Week, week and a half tops. Those finger pokes are the most dangerous weapons to come out of Atlas that we've seen so far."

"_I'm _the deadliest weapon to come out of Atlas, for the record."

"And so modest, too."

"Of all my qualities that caught your eye back at Beacon, Jaune Arc, I _highly_ doubt that it was my humility."

"It's true."

"What?"

"I think it's because I have a thing for bossy - ow, sorry! - I mean, _assertive_ women. A real take-charge kinda girl. Well, that and you're stunning. The brightest star in the night sky, shining brightly from the heavens. I look at you, and it's just kind of hard to believe you're even real sometimes. I mean, if someone told me that you were some otherworldly magical being, like a shard of the moon that turned into a girl, I'd believe it, no problem. It's like you belong up there, with the rest of the wonders."

"...I…"

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to be inappropriate."

"I mean, you can -"

"No, no, it's okay Weiss. Let's just change the subject."

"..."

"...Weiss?"

"...You dunce…"

"Hey, I said I'm sorry. Anyway, this is my room for tonight. Nice of the General to comp the rooms at the Academy, huh?"

"..."

"...So...goodnight?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Jaune Arc! I still need to examine your injury to determine its extent."

"I'm fine!"

"Take off your armor and shirt. S-so I can see the injury."

"Well, yeah, why else would you want me to take them off?"

"..."

"...Uh, Weiss?"

"Yes?"

"I...kinda need a hand with the armor. I, uh, I can't seem to bend the right way to reach the bottom right latch."

"Oh, right. Let me just… here?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"I might as well assist with the rest of the latches. No need for you to strain yourself if your injury is limiting your range of motion."

"Thanks, Weiss. But, shouldn't you be checking on Ruby? I mean, she got blasted out of a cannon today, after all."

"And she had people there to catch her. You… you don't."

"Well, I mean, there's Ren and Nora."

"Yes, Ren, who failed to notice you falling behind our group, and Nora, whose thoughtlessness in combat resulted in your injury in the first place!"

"Uh, Weiss, are you okay?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, I'm fine. I just may need to have a… a 'word' with your teammates in the near future."

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why? They're fine."

"I beg to differ."

"Why do you care so much?"

"Why would I want to see you suffer?"

"Not sure this counts."

"Oh no? Then let's see you remove your shirt under your own power, hmm?"

"..."

"..."

"...I appear to be stuck."

"Mmhmm."

"...Is this the part where I admit you're right and ask for help?"

"Mmhmm."

"..."

"..."

"...Uh, Weiss?"

"Yes?"

"The injury is to my back?"

"Yes! Right! Of course. But, you see, I'm merely inspecting the sternum to ensure that it was not displaced by… pressure to the anterior...back."

"Well, that makes sense. Figures you'd know a lot about medicine too. Is there anything you don't know about?"

"Of course. That doesn't mean that it will remain that way forever, though. We're always learning, Jaune. But, for now, lay face-down on the bed so I can examine the injury."

"Sure thing."

"Oh, Jaune! Why didn't you say anything?"

"Huh? It's not so bad, is it?"

"It still looks painful."

"I can deal with just painful. I could still move, more or less, and walk. Could probably fight, too, if I had to."

"...Stay there. I have a topical anaesthetic in my bag."

"'Kay."

"Now, this is going to be a little cold."

"You weren't kidding!"

"Oh, you'll live, you tremendous baby."

"Wow, way to switch moods."

" It's a lady's prerogative to adapt as best pertains to the situation."

"That sounds like Weiss-speech for 'tough.'"

"See? It's just as I said - we're _always_ learning."

"It's working, though. The stuff on my back. It already feels better. Or just numb. Sometimes numb is good enough."

"Well, this application should suffice to reduce swelling and numb the pain until your Aura can completely heal you."

"Thanks, Weiss. You're amazing."

"...I… it's nothing, really."

"..."

"...Jaune?"

"..."

"Goodnight, Jaune."

[/]

"Jaune."

"Weiss."

"Would you care to accompany me to the dance floor? I daresay that we will learn precious little more from the assorted high society sycophants tonight."

"It's good cover to go over what intel we've gathered, too."

"Ah. Yes. Cover. Of course."

"Well, who am I to deny the lady a dance?"

"I must say, you clean up very well, Mister Arc."

"Tragically, I was forced to leave my dress behind at Beacon, depriving the fine citizens of Atlas from the good show."

"A loss from which we may never recover, I'm sure. The Kingdom will note this day with all lamentations."

"You look great, by the way. The braid suits you."

"Thank you. It took a great deal of time and effort to wrest it into position."

"It shows. Your hair puts Yang's to _shame_. It always has, really."

"..."

"...Weiss?"

"Hmm?"

"We were going to review the intel?"

"Intel? Oh, right, of course. Don't mind me, I was merely ensuring that I was close enough so that we would not be overheard. A difficult task to manage with the waltz."

"No problem. You've got this down anyway. So, what did your sister have to say about the General's staff?"

"She was entirely complimentary of everyone on it, which would not be such an unusual state of affairs but for the fact that we know that the enemy is fond of suborning allies, or those perceived to be allies, to work against us."

"It's a good thing she'd talk to _you_. All I could get from her were glares."

"Well of course. She's an older sister. Glaring at handsome young men in my retinue is not only one of her duties, but it's something of a hobby for her."

"Huh. Well, if I see Ren, I'll let him know to look out."

"..."

"Weiss?"

"...You dunce…"

"Anyway, if there _is_ a spy, or a full-blown saboteur, it wouldn't be difficult to mask their intentions. No offense, but you Atlesians are very big on the stoicism. Even Ren's kind of weirded out by it."

"You're telling me."

"..."

"..."

"...Want me to say something to them?"

"No, thank you. I doubt their intentions are hostile. Or, at least, _overtly_ hostile in the manner to which we have become accustomed. Those are merely the typical vapid socialites and dead-eyed trophy wives that follow scandal like jackals to a kill."

"What's their problem?"

"You attack one woman with a summoned Boarbatusk and get removed as the heiress to the most powerful company on Remnant, and some people tend to make a fuss of it."

"C'mon. Let's not focus on them. Do you want to dance to something a little more...upbeat?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"Do you know the tango?"

[/]

"Weiss."

"Jaune."

"Do you… do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't see what there is to discuss on the matter."

"Whatever he might have done, whatever he might have… become, he was still your father."

"Was he? I hear Yang, Ruby and Blake talk about their fathers, good men who care for the well-being of their daughters. My… father… he cared nothing for me. I was literally a tool for him to use to extend his wealth and power even further. He was manipulative, spiteful, arrogant and cruel, and worst of all, he raised me to be that way too."

"You're not any of those things, Weiss."

"How can you, of all people, say such a thing?"

"Because it's true, of course."

"...and suppose I don't believe you."

"Then you can believe all of us. If you were as awful as you seem to think you are, none of us would have met you at all. A truly selfish person in your position would have never gone to become a Huntress at all."

"I…"

"It's okay."

"Jaune!"

"I'm here. Just get it out."

"My father is gone, and I'm relieved! What kind of daughter is glad to know that her father has died?!"

"The kind who was neglected and abused, and grew up to be so much more than her father had ever intended her to be. Had ever dared _dream_ she could be."

"..."

"...It's okay. I'm here. You're not alone."

[/]

"Jaune Arc!"

"Yo."

"What were you _thinking_?!"

"That if I took that hit, you wouldn't have to."

"And where did that thinking land you?"

"...This would appear to be a hospital bed."

"_Indeed._"

"You sound angry."

"Of course I am, you dolt! You _knew_ you were low on Aura! You _knew_ that you might not survive that hit! But you went and did it anyway!"

"Did we win?"

"..."

"...I'm going to interpret your unwillingness to answer that question as a 'yes.' In fact, I bet it's not just a 'yes,' but a full-blown 'we only won _because_ Weiss didn't take that hit.' Am I right?"

"…"

"...Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm right."

"That doesn't make it right."

"It kinda does, though."

"Do you think I _like_ seeing you hurt like this? That I _enjoy_ watching you get carried off on a stretcher? Do you think waiting for word to come of whether or not you'll pull through is just the highlight of my day?"

"...Then why are you?"

"What?"

"Why are you here? I mean, the battlefield thing, not really any way to help that. But no one said you had to come to the hospital, and wait around while I'm in surgery, or be here as soon as I woke up. So, why did you?"

"...You really don't get it, do you?"

"Not really, no."

"Jaune, I need something from you."

"Name it."

"I need you to promise me, to promise me as an Arc, that you'll answer this next question with the truth. The _entire_ truth."

"...Okay."

"Do you love me?"

"...I never stopped loving you."

"What?"

"I loved you from the moment I saw you. I loved you when I was being obnoxious back at Beacon. I loved you when I set you up with that guy at the dance. I loved you from afar when Beacon fell, and we were scattered across the world. I loved you every time you tried to save me from myself. I loved you when I unlocked my Semblance, and I saw you open your eyes and immediately resume snarking. I loved you every moment of every day for years."

"..._Why didn't you say anything?_"

"I did, remember? And you weren't into it, so eventually - and to your great relief, I might add - I dropped it."

"Jaune, that was _years_ ago. We aren't the same people we were back then! Gods, we were only seventeen! _Of course_ you didn't know how to talk to women! _Of course_ I was a mean little brat who was contemptuous towards you!"

"...I didn't think I deserved - mmmf!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"And that's what _I think_ you deserve."

"...Wow."

"Indeed."

"...You're gonna have to give me a minute. It's not every day you get kissed by the angel of your dreams."

"I'm not going anywhere. You'll have plenty of time to grow accustomed to the idea."

"Are you sure about this?"

"I love you, you dunce."

**[/]**

**Entry Endnotes: I do think that White Knight could be a thing without too much reaching, if the writers cared to make it one. I kinda doubt they will, though. **


End file.
